The Cleveland Browns just did the Baltimore Ravens a favor they'll never forget. And the Pittsburgh Steelers? They're probably still trying to figure out what the hell happened in Cleveland on Sunday.
The result: a winner-take-all showdown for the AFC North in Week 18. Ravens at Steelers. One team makes the playoffs. One goes home for the offseason.
This is everything football should be.
How we got here
Let's rewind. The Steelers entered Sunday with a simple equation: beat the hapless Browns, clinch the division. They had already seen the Ravens beat the Packers on Saturday, so they knew Baltimore wasn't going away quietly. All Pittsburgh needed was one win against a 2-13 team quarterbacked by a rookie.
Instead, Shedeur Sanders threw a 28-yard touchdown to Harold Fannin Jr. on the Browns' second drive. Myles Garrett's defense held the Steelers to six points. The final score—13-6—stands as one of the most inexplicable results of the 2025 season.
Pittsburgh, playing without suspended receiver DK Metcalf and injured tight end Darnell Washington, couldn't move the ball. Aaron Rodgers finished 17-of-27 for just 110 yards. The offense was nonexistent.
Winner takes everything
So now we have Week 18: Ravens at Steelers for all the marbles. The stakes couldn't be higher.
Win, and you're the AFC North champions with a home playoff game. Lose, and you're watching the postseason from your couch. There's no wild card safety net for the loser. Both teams sit at the edge of the playoff picture, and only one can claim that final AFC spot.
The Ravens opened as 3-point road favorites, which tells you something about how the market views these two teams right now. Despite Pittsburgh hosting, oddsmakers believe Baltimore is the better squad heading into the most important game of both teams' seasons.
The matchup that matters
Can the Steelers stop Derrick Henry?
This is the question that will define Week 18. Henry torched the Packers on Saturday, carrying the Ravens' offense while Lamar Jackson sat out with an injury. If Jackson is still unavailable—or even limited—Baltimore's game plan will run through Henry.
Pittsburgh's run defense is better equipped to handle Henry than most units he's faced recently, but the Steelers just got embarrassed by the Browns' ground game. Confidence should be shaky.
What will the Steelers offense look like?
Metcalf's two-game suspension stemming from his altercation with a Lions fan last week has gutted Pittsburgh's passing attack. Without their most explosive receiver, Rodgers looked lost in Cleveland. If the offense can't find answers before Saturday night, this game could get ugly.
History and bad blood
Ravens-Steelers is already one of football's greatest rivalries. Now add playoff elimination stakes to the mix.
The Steelers won the first meeting this season, 27-22, a victory that sparked a three-game winning streak and put them in control of the division. The Ravens haven't forgotten.
John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin—two of the longest-tenured coaches in the NFL—will be coaching with their jobs on the line. Neither officially, of course. But a playoff miss for either franchise would spark serious questions about the future.
"Ravens vs Steelers, Harbaugh vs Tomlin, jobs on the line, AFC North Division on the line, Sunday Night Football," one Ravens account posted on X. That about sums it up.
The bottom line
Neither of these teams has played like a genuine contender for most of the season. The Ravens' 8-8 record heading into Week 18 is a disappointment after entering the year as Super Bowl favorites. The Steelers' late-season collapse—now 1-5 in their last six games in Cleveland—has exposed serious roster issues.
But none of that matters now. One game. Winner stays alive.
That's what makes the NFL the best league in American sports. The Browns gifted us this storyline by pulling off the upset nobody saw coming. Now Baltimore and Pittsburgh will deliver the finish.
Grab your popcorn. This one's going to be special.