Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers remained somewhat terse in his postgame press conference following Pittsburgh’s 27-6 win over the Browns on Sunday. Despite the big win over a divisional foe, Rodgers seemed reluctant to give too much praise to the Steelers offense, saying their performance was “not very complete” and that there “should’ve been a lot more points.”
Still, with the Steelers now 6-2 on the season, in sole possession of first place in the AFC North, and entering a midseason bye week
on a four-game winning streak, Rodgers acknowledged the team is in a good spot.
“We’d like to play our best and still win. We also like to win,” he said. “We’re 6-2 going into the bye, first in the division. We’re right where we want to be.”
Both Cleveland and Pittsburgh were 5-2 entering Week 8, with the Browns having already defeated the Steelers earlier in the season in a Thursday Night Football matchup at Huntington Bank Field.
But back at home in Acrisure Stadium in Sunday’s rematch, the Steelers ran for 200 yards on Cleveland while only allowing 34 yards on the ground en route to a lopsided, 21-point victory.
Despite the AFC North being arguably the NFL’s most competitive division in 2026 with not one team under .500, the Steelers are in the best spot of the group at midseason. The now 5-3 Browns lost in blowout fashion. The Bengals (now 5-2) won on Sunday to jump into second place in the division, but it took overtime to defeat the hapless 1-7 Titans.
And the Ravens, the consensus preseason pick to win the AFC North, are now in last place at 4-4 after a 36-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday. To make matters worse for Baltimore, Lamar Jackson was injured again and is now headed to IR with an upcoming thumb injury.
The Steelers’ first game after the bye will be a Sunday Night Football matchup on Nov. 15 against the Bengals in what will be another matchup between top AFC North teams.
“Winning is the most important thing — 2-1 in the division now,” Rodgers said. “Either way, that game in two weeks is going to be really important.”
The Steelers defeated the Bengals 30-27 earlier in the season. The black and gold have split their series with the Browns in 2026 but still have both matchups against the Ravens due later in the season.
While the Steelers players acknowledged there’s a lot of football left to play, T.J. Watt said he’s been encouraged by how the team has found ways to win thus far.
“I like that we’ve won games many different ways. We’ve come from behind. We’ve been able to hold leads. We’ve played games where we haven’t looked great. We’ve played games where we’ve looked great,” he said.
“We just need to continue to grow and build off this performance … There continues to be young guys (contributing), and I think (Derrick Harmon) is coming back soon too, hopefully, so I think this bye week comes at a great time for us.”
AFC North standings after Week 8
- Steelers (6-2; 2-1 division)
- Bengals (5-2; 1-1 division)
- Browns (5-3; 2-1 division)
- Ravens (4-4; 0-2 division)
