The AFC North is considered one of the strongest divisions in the NFL. However, they only fielded two playoff teams last year, one of which was the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was their fourth playoff appearance in the last five years, but they haven’t won in the postseason since 2016. The question remains whether they will fare better in 2025 with Aaron Rodgers now in the fold.
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Well, the Cleveland Browns seem to be going down another Cleveland Browns path, so no need to worry about them. The Baltimore Ravens are still the kings of the castle, and they made several shrewd moves at wideout and defensive back to get even stronger. The Bengals gave a boatload of money to a couple of WRs they had last year when they missed the playoffs, yet did nothing to fix their O-line or defense.
So, it seems the Steelers have about as good a chance to get back into the postseason this year as they did last time. Steelers great James Harrison is confident they will return to the postseason, and he believes they will do so because of Rodgers’ arrival and a defense that’s ready to bounce back.
“Of all those teams you said, I feel like our defense can play better. And if we get a quarterback that can actually quarterback… I said could play better, I didn’t say was better.”
Harrison and co-host and former Bengals WR TJ Houshmandzadeh ran through the teams they expected to be in the AFC playoffs: Chiefs, Bills, Ravens. But Houshmandzadeh was including the Broncos and Chargers like foregone conclusions in the playoffs. Though we think both will get in, it’s far from certain.
From our perspective, those three teams plus the Houston Texans will be division winners. The Steelers, Bengals, Chargers, and Broncos will most likely compete for the three Wild Card spots. Houshmandzadeh brought up the Dolphins and Patriots, but they have little to no chance of being in this race.
Harrison believes that if Pittsburgh’s defense can bounce back from a pretty poor year by their standards in 2024, it will be the difference. Pittsburgh was eighth in points allowed and 12th in yards allowed last year, but if you only did the back half of the year, they’d be in the bottom third.
So they addressed their inability to stop the run by drafting the best defensive tackle in the class, Derrick Harmon, in the first round. They also picked up a run-stuffing linebacker in Malik Harrison. Darius Slay still has enough to be a CB2 on the outside, and DeShon Elliott and Minkah Fitzpatrick are an underrated safety duo. Once T.J. Watt signs, the pass rush will be back in business, too.
Even still, it feels like no matter what the defense does for Pittsburgh, it will be Aaron Rodgers and the offense’s performance that ultimately determines how far they will go. If the offensive line coalesces and Calvin Austin and Roman Wilson turn into stars, this team could be scary. If not, it might be another 9-8 and first-round exit for Mike Tomlin’s guys.
