Browns-Steelers Week 8 Showdown Is Even More Intriguing Than What Meets the Eye

Pittsburgh and Cleveland enter Sunday tied at 5–2, with sole possession of first place in the AFC North on the line.

The Browns and Steelers will meet for the second time in five weeks on Sunday afternoon. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

If you’ve looked at the NFL standings recently and had to do a double take, you’re not alone. And yes, you’re reading them right: The Browns lead the AFC North through the first seven weeks of the season.

After a second consecutive sub-.300 finish in 2025, Cleveland fired coach Kevin Stefanski after six seasons and replaced him with Todd Monken, a familiar face with an offensive background. The 60-year-old served as the team’s offensive coordinator in 2019, but also spent the past three seasons calling plays for the Ravens, a division rival they face twice a year. Now, Monken has the Browns rolling early in his tenure as head coach, with Cleveland at 5–2 as they prepare to take on the 5–2 Steelers in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

As for the Steelers, longtime head coach Mike Tomlin stepped down this offseason after an incredible 19-year run. Rather than go back to the well of young, defensive-minded coaches they’d poached in the past—see: Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Tomlin—they instead went the veteran route and hired Mike McCarthy as their next man in charge. McCarthy, 62, previously served as head coach of both the Packers and Cowboys, and before that logged stints as the Saints’ and 49ers’ offensive coordinator. A Pennsylvania native and longtime Steelers fan, McCarthy’s return to Pittsburgh felt like a homecoming. It also reunited him with quarterback Aaron Rodgers, whom he coached for 13 years in Green Bay—which included their win in Super Bowl XLV to close out the 2010 season.

While the coaching changes alone are an intriguing storyline heading into Sunday, this matchup offers plenty more than meets the eye. Here’s a closer look at the Week 8 showdown.

The numbers don’t say these teams should be playing for 6–2

Todd Monken and Mike McCarthy each have their respective teams at 5–2 to start the 2026 season. | Jason Miller/Getty Images

Sunday at Acrisure Stadium will mark the second meeting between the Steelers and Browns in just over a month, after they first met on Thursday Night Football in Week 4, when Cleveland won 27–24.

Since then, the Steelers are 3–0, and the Browns are 2–1, leaving both teams at 5–2. Cleveland holds the tiebreaker thanks to its head-to-head win, and Sunday puts sole possession of first place in the AFC North on the line.

Regardless of the outcome, though, both teams will enter November at least two games above .500—a surprising reality given what the numbers suggest, at least on offense.

Browns vs. Steelers offensive numbers

Team	Points per game (NFL rank)	Yards per game (NFL rank)	EPA/play (NFL rank)
Browns	19.0 (28th)	299.4 (24th)	-0.10 (27th)
Steelers	21.9 (22nd)	323.7 (18th)	-0.09 (26th)

Both the Browns and Steelers have middling-at-best offenses through the seven-week mark of the season. Cleveland is one of just six teams scoring fewer than 20 points per game this season—making it the only club in the AFC North with a negative point differential—and has also allowed quarterback Deshaun Watson to be sacked a league-high 25 times. 

Pittsburgh, meanwhile, ranks second in sacks allowed this year with 23, is in the bottom 10 in points per game (21.9) and has tallied a league-low one(!) rushing touchdown all season, which came from running back Jaylen Warren in Week 5 against the Colts.

Both units also carry a negative EPA per play through seven weeks, underscoring just how uninspiring they’ve been offensively—especially with two former play-callers at head coach.

That said, the Browns and Steelers have each made up for it on defense.

Browns vs. Steelers defensive numbers

Team	Points per game allowed (NFL rank)	Yards per game allowed (NFL rank)	EPA/play allowed (NFL rank)	Turnovers forced (NFL rank)	Sacks (NFL rank)
Browns	20.9 (12th)	318.1 (12th)	-0.08 (T-8th)	9 (T-11th)	20 (6th)
Steelers	19.7 (5th)	303.7 (6th)	-0.08 (T-8th)	11 (T-5th)	18 (T-9th)

Led by coordinator Patrick Graham, the Steelers’ defense ranks in the top 10 in points per game allowed (19.7), yards per game allowed (303.7), EPA/play allowed (-0.08), turnovers forced (11) and sacks (19). They’ve come on even stronger the past two weeks, holding both the Buccaneers and Saints to under 20 points each while intercepting quarterbacks Jalon Daniels and Tyler Shough a combined three times.

The Browns’ defense, meanwhile, is coordinated by Mike Rutenberg, a first-time defensive play-caller with collegiate and professional experience since 2003. Over seven games, Rutenberg has his unit playing some hard-nosed defense, ranking in the top 10 in sacks (20, 6th) and EPA/play allowed (-0.08, T-8th) while also allowing just 20.9 points per game and 318.1 yards per game. Linebacker Carson Schwesinger, meanwhile, has built off his 2025 Rookie of the Year-winning campaign with 64 total tackles, good for sixth in the NFL, while cornerback Denzel Ward has proven to be worth the extension Cleveland handed him this offseason, as he’s tallied six passes defensed and two interceptions while allowing a passer rating of just 54.9.

While defense has kept the Browns and Steelers competitive, the quarterbacks are playing well, too.

The quarterbacks are lightning rods, but they’re winning games

Aaron Rodgers and Deshaun Watson are each playing good football to begin the season. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

We’ve only mentioned both teams’ signal-callers once so far, and that may be all NFL fans can handle.

We’ll start with Deshaun Watson, who, amid numerous sexual assault allegations, sat out—or, perhaps more accurately, was sat out of—the 2021 season before being traded from the Texans to the Browns in a package that included multiple first-round picks. Cleveland then signed the quarterback to one of the largest contracts in NFL history before handing him an 11-game suspension to begin the 2022 season. Watson has since battled multiple season-ending injuries, heard team owner Jimmy Haslam call acquiring him a swing and a miss, and, before being named the Browns’ starter to begin this year, hadn’t taken a snap since 2024.

Then there’s Rodgers, the 42-year-old woe-is-me conspiracy theorist who—while rightfully calling out NFL owners on their B.S. last weekend—has effectively held the Steelers hostage over the past two offseasons as he decides whether to string his career along.

The most captivating part of it all? Both quarterbacks are playing winning football to begin the 2026 campaign.

Deshaun Watson vs. Aaron Rodgers, by the numbers

Quarterback	Passing yards	Completion percentage	Passing TD	Interceptions	Passer rating
Aaron Rodgers	1,699	61.6%	13	5	88.9
Deshaun Watson	1,482	64.8%	7	3	90.6

While the raw stats may not jump off the page, per se, Watson is playing the best football of his Browns career. Not only is he on pace for his highest completion percentage (64.8%), yards per attempt (7.1) and passer rating (90.6) since being traded to Cleveland, but he also currently leads the NFL in game-winning drives (5) and fourth-quarter comebacks (3). 

Rodgers, meanwhile, has turned back the clock by throwing for just over 240 yards per game and 13 touchdowns over the first two months of the season, highlighted by a stretch in which he logged three touchdown passes in three consecutive games for the first time since 2021, the same year he won his fourth MVP award.

Most importantly, both Watson and Rodgers have their teams in the thick of the AFC playoff race heading into Sunday.

The history between these two teams should set up another premier matchup

T.J. Watt and the Steelers will welcome the Browns to Pittsburgh on Sunday. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

It’s no secret that the Browns were the NFL’s laughing stock for the better part of the 21st century, bottoming out with a 1–31 stretch across the 2016 and ’17 seasons. However, after weathering the storm in recent years, Cleveland has become far more competitive.  

Since the start of the 2019 season, the Browns and Steelers are tied 8–8 over 15 regular-season games and one playoff matchup, with Pittsburgh outscoring Cleveland by just 43 points, 345 to 302.  

The recent back-and-forths set up what could be a high-end, smash-mouth football game on Sunday afternoon, and with first place in the AFC North on the line, this Week 8 matchup offers plenty of intrigue.

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