AFC North: The Browns Aren't As Far Behind As Some May Think

How strong is the Browns division? How will it impact their playoff chances?

The AFC North should be re-named the Black and Blue Division.

Every divisional game you need to bring your lunch pail, hard hat, and prepare to get hit by a two-by-four.

Unfortunately for Browns fans, the Steelers and Ravens have been the top teams in the division most of the time (the Browns are the only team without an AFC North Championship). This can be largely credited to the Steelers and Ravens having dominating defenses.

In 2008, the Ravens and Steelers faced off in the AFC Championship. Pittsburgh prevailed and went on to be Super Bowl Champions.

In the last nine Super Bowls, the AFC has won seven of them. The AFC North has won three Super Bowls (Pittsburgh 2005 and 2008, Baltimore 2000) during that time.

That kind of success has made it very difficult for the Browns to win their division. In fact, you have to go back to 1989 to find the last Cleveland divisional championship and that was when the division was called the AFC Central.

All this talk of Baltimore and Pittsburgh has kept me from even mentioning the Bengals. Cincinnati has struggled over the years but they do have a division crown from 2005 in their trophy case.

Keep in mind that last year’s Bengals squad was led by an Ivy League quarterback who graduated from Harvard, his name, Ryan Fitzpatrick. He’s not exactly the next Elway, Favre, or Montana.

The Bengals will clearly be better if Carson Palmer is healthy.

Just how good will their passing game be without the man who led them in receptions for the last three seasons, T.J. Houshmandzadeh? Will the receiver formerly known as Chad Johnson still thrive without his partner Housh?

I see this division being a very competitive race where all the teams could finish between seven to ten wins IF they avoid major injuries.

Pittsburgh is the most proven commodity, so as much as it pains any Clevelander to say this, the division is won by beating the Steelers.

Tim Couch was the last Browns quarterback to beat them.

With a full year of game tape to look at Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, will he have the same success in year two? My guess is that he takes a couple steps backward.

Andre Smith should help keep Carson Palmer on the field this year which makes the Bengals dangerous on offense. Rey Maualuga paired up with former Trojan teammate Keith Rivers will start to build a foundation for the Bengals defense.

The Bengals still don’t have enough depth top to bottom that they can beat out the other three teams in a 16 game schedule.

The Browns will have a tough time getting their first division crown in 20 years but that doesn’t totally rule out a 2009 playoff run.

The orange and brown should be among a handful of teams competing for the two wild card spots.

As the NFL saw last year with the Dolphins and Falcons going from bottom of the pack, to the playoffs, anything is possible.

Good news for Browns fans, both of those teams did it with a new head coach.