How Does Joe Burrow Injury Impact The Browns Playoff Picture?

It was a tough week for AFC North quarterbacks.

On Wednesday, the Browns revealed that quarterback Deshaun Watson would miss the remainder of the season with a fracture to the glenoid in his throwing shoulder. Then, Bengals star signal-caller, Joe Burrow left his team's Thursday night matchup with the Ravens due to a wrist injury and joined Watson with the same fate.

The unfortunate news for both of the division foes is likely to have major implications on the AFC North, but also how the the entire AFC Playoff Picture takes shape.

Starting in the North, Baltimore leads the pack right now at 8-3, following their 34-20 win over Cincinnati on Thursday. But Pittsburgh and Cleveland are breathing down their necks at the moment.

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens (8-3)

Pittsburgh Steelers (6-3)

Cleveland Browns (6-3)

Cincinnati Bengals (5-5)

With the Browns and Steelers set to square off Sunday, more shifting could be in the works. If Cleveland pulls off a win with rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson quarterbacking the offense, they'd sit just a game behind the Ravens – who haven't yet had a bye week – at 7-3, with a 3-2 record in the division. The record within the division is an important element to keep in mind because that would be used as a second tie breaker after head-to-head matchups, which is essentially a non-factor when it comes to Baltimore and Cleveland since they split their season series.

A division title would still be very much in play for the Browns with a win, where as a loss would instead put the Steelers in an adventitious situation to challenge Baltimore instead. In that scenario, Pittsburgh would 3-0 in the AFC North, with a matchup against the now Burrow-less Bengals coming up in Week 12.

This is where the Burrow injury becomes a major factor in the way things shake out down the stretch. After an 0-2 start to the season, Cincinnati had climbed it's way out of the depths of the AFC and back into contention for the playoffs and a division. Now at 0-3 against their AFC North rivals, a three-peat as division champions is probably out of the question.

The 5-5 Bengals are firmly positioned with a handful of other teams as "in the hunt" heading into late November, but without Burrow things could go south pretty quickly. Losing one of the top quarterbacks in football will likely alter the landscape of the conference the rest of the way, perhaps even clearing out one potential wildcard contender.

If the season ended today, the AFC Playoff Seeding would be as follows:

1) Kansas City Chiefs (7-2)

2) Baltimore Ravens (7-3)

3) Jacksonville Jaguars (6-3)

4) Miami Dolphins (6-3)

5) Pittsburgh Steelers (6-3)

6) Cleveland Browns (6-3)

7) Houston Texans (5-4)

On top of staying in the division title race with Baltimore, the winner of Browns, Steelers this weekend firmly supplants themselves as the five seed regardless of the other AFC results from Week 11. Conversely, the loser could drop to the seven seed depending on one game in particular: Arizona at Houston. Neither the Browns or Steelers would drop out of the playoff picture with a loss this week.

As for that Cardinals,Texans game, if C.J. Stroud's group wins that game then the losing team between Cleveland and Pittsburgh in every scenario would end up as the seven seed, with Houston jumping to six. Where as if the Texans lose that game, a 6-4 Steelers or Browns team would retain that six spot.

Where each of these two teams stand in the division and conference is very much on the line at 1 p.m. on Sunday.