The AFC North was arguably the most unpredictable division in the entire NFL last season. Tyler Loop’s last-gasp missed game-winning walk-off field goal attempt in a Week 18 shootout in Pittsburgh sealed the Ravens’ fate instead of extending their reign, ensuring that the divisional crown headed to the Steelers rather than remaining in Baltimore. Over in Cincinnati, yet another devastating injury for Joe Burrow curtailed Cincy’s hopes, with the Bengals slumping to 6-11 and missing the playoffs for the third straight season. 

Now, however, a new era dawns. The 2026 season is right around the corner, and all four AFC North teams look very different from how they ended last season. But which of them will manage to outlast the rest and win the division? 

Baltimore Remains the Favorite 

Baltimore has been the AFC North’s standard-bearer in recent years, reaching the postseason in four of the last five campaigns and stacking gaudy win totals behind Lamar Jackson’s dual-threat brilliance. Two straight division titles preceded 2025. Then the wheels well and truly came off the bus. 

Despite heading into the campaign as overwhelming favorites to win the division and joint frontrunners to claim the Lombardi, the Ravens stumbled to a 1-5 start as their superstar quarterback battled numerous injury woes. Baltimore would rally, reeling off five straight wins midseason to improve to 6-5. Then, they were upset on Thanksgiving on home turf by the returning Joe Burrow and the Bengals, and the Ravens never truly recovered. 

Baltimore headed to rivals Pittsburgh in their final game of the season, knowing that victory would seal a third straight divisional crown. Instead, kicker Tyler Loop missed a game-winning field goal, resulting in a 26-24 defeat that sealed an 8-9 finish — Baltimore’s first losing season since 2021, ending with John Harbaugh’s dismissal after eighteen years at the helm. 

Enter Jesse Minter, the former Chargers defensive coordinator and ex-Ravens assistant now tasked with reviving a roster that still features Jackson, Derrick Henry, and Zay Flowers. Fresh coordinators Declan Doyle and Anthony Weaver arrived, and pass rusher Trey Hendrickson was added to address a defense that too often let games slip away late. Crucially, online betting sites haven’t lost faith. 

The latest odds from 5Gringos online sportsbook make the Ravens a -120 favorite to win the AFC North next season, with Super Bowl-or-bust the expectations heading into 2026. Can Minter coax one more MVP-caliber season from Jackson and erase the memory of last January’s meltdown? If he can, a return to the summit could well lie in wait. 

Optimism Returns to Cincinnati 

Joe Burrow’s Bengals have become a case study in what-ifs. The talismanic QB led Cincy to a shock Super Bowl appearance in 2021 before reaching the AFC Championship game the following year, giving birth to an epic rivalry with Patrick Mahomes’ Kansas City Chiefs in the process. Since then, though, it has been nothing but pain, both figuratively and literally, as repeated injuries to Burrow have seen the Bengals miss out on the postseason for three straight years. 

The offence has rarely been the problem; Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and even Joe Flacco last season did their part. The defense, however, has been historically bad. It’s statistically among the league’s worst by DVOA over the past three seasons and has been the anchor dragging the entire franchise to the ground. 

The 2025 season followed a similar script. A promising 2-0 start — the best of the Zac Taylor era — unraveled the moment Burrow suffered a serious turf toe injury in Week 2, sidelining him for nine games and dropping Cincinnati to 1-8 in his absence. Flacco filled in admirably, but the Bengals limped to a 6-11 finish — their worst since Burrow’s rookie season. 

Ownership responded with the most uncharacteristic offseason in franchise history. The Bengals pulled off a true draft week blockbuster as they traded away the tenth overall pick for Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, with Sexy Dexy joining a defense already rebuilt with the additions of Boye Mafe, Jonathan Allen, and Bryan Cook. Losing Trey Hendrickson to a division rival stings, but the overall haul has pundits genuinely excited. 

The Bengals are the +180 second-favorites to pip the Ravens to the crown, and truth be told, their expectations are even loftier than that. Burrow called the current crop “very similar” to his famed 2019 National Championship-winning LSU side. If that observation is in any way accurate, Cincy could well be a problem in 2026. 

The Afterthoughts 

Mike Tomlin masterminded 22 straight winning seasons in Pittsburgh, culminating in last term’s AFC North win. Then, a 30-6 drubbing at the hands of the Houston Texans on home turf in the Divisional Round — the Steelers’ third straight first-round exit — spelled the end. 

The long-serving head coach was dismissed, replaced with former Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, who reunited with veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers for one last crack at immortality, but the bookies remain unconvinced. The Steelers are a +650 outsider to repeat as division winners, with reinforcements in the form of a trade for receiver Michael Pittman Jr. and the addition of running back Rico Dowdle doing little to move the needle. Even so, they are far better positioned than the Browns. 

Cleveland has spent the better part of a decade searching for quarterback stability, and 2025 offered no resolution. The Browns limped to a 5-12 finish, their fourth straight non-playoff season, while cycling through Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel, and rookie fifth-rounder Shedeur Sanders under center. Now, Deshaun Watson returns after three injury-riddled years, with the Browns hoping that he will finally deliver some sort of form after Cleveland handed him the biggest and most misguided contract of all time. 

To make matters worse, their one true superstar, Myles Garrett, has been traded to the Lombardi favourite Los Angeles Rams, with a slew of draft picks and Jared Verse heading in the opposite direction. Still, +2000 AFC North winner odds suggest that Cleveland has little to no hope next term.