Browns vs Steelers: Why Pittsburgh Will Continue Climbing Toward Top of AFC

It's December. The Pittsburgh Steelers have a 9-3 record and the second-best team in the AFC North. They're one win (and a combination of wins and losses from other teams) away from securing a playoff berth.

These facts are dangerous for any team slated to face them in the coming weeks, but for the Steelers, it's simply a sign that things are par for the course.

The Steelers are no stranger to the postseason, to be sure, reaching the playoffs in seven of the last 10 years, making three Super Bowl appearances and winning two in the process. In six of those seven years, they won the AFC North title, though they also managed a Super Bowl victory as the AFC's sixth seed.

They're one of the most fearsome teams as the season heads into December, and this year is no different. With just one truly difficult game ahead of them, it's quite possible that the Steelers overtake the Ravens and snag yet another AFC North title.

Even if they don't, they're still one of the conference's top teams. No other 9-3 team in the AFC, save the Texans, can boast such a well-rounded squad.

On both offense and defense, Pittsburgh has overcome their early-season hiccups and have successfully formed themselves into a single, cohesive unit, the kind of late-season battering ram that imposes their will on opponent after opponent until they find themselves again in the league's championship game.

Two upcoming games against the Cleveland Browns (the first happening in Pittsburgh tonight) and a Week 16 contest against the St. Louis Rams almost guarantee that the Steelers will win at least three of their four remaining games.

Just a tough contest against the San Francisco 49ers stands between them and 13-3. Though the Ravens would have to completely collapse in their remaining four games for the Steelers to overtake them and win the AFC North, the Steelers have a much better chance of reaching—and winning—the AFC Championship game.

Yes, the Ravens have managed to sweep Pittsburgh in the regular season, but the Steelers are a completely different team in January than they were in the first 17 weeks of the year. They're a more well-balanced team than Baltimore and far more experienced in making and winning in the postseason.

Not even the Patriots, who have undergone so many personnel changes since their last Super Bowl appearance, can boast the amount of playoff experience the Steelers' players have accumulated in recent years.

It's never a stretch to assume the Steelers will emerge as a Super Bowl favorite prior to a season even beginning, and this year is no different. Though Pittsburgh struggled early in the year, they've managed to right many of their wrongs and strengthen their former weak spots. No team in the AFC is able to change and adapt the way the Steelers have been able to, and it's clear that they will only get stronger as the season wears on.

A win tonight over the Browns is practically a given; but the way they'll accomplish it, using a combination of their top-five passing offense, their efficient run game and their brutal defense, will provide further proof that if there's a team to beat in the AFC, it's the Steelers.