Ravens Climb AFC North Standings With Help From Recent Foe

The Baltimore Ravens kicked off Week 9 of the regular season with a commanding 28-6 victory over the Miami Dolphins to establish their first winning streak and pull them into a tie for second place in the AFC North standings and a game and a half back of first place heading into the rest of the weekend's action.

In order to take over the No. 2 spot and improve to just one game back of the top, they needed the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts to take care of business on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers. Each was favored to prevail over the Ravens' division rivals, and while both games went down to the wire, only one produced the desired result for the two-time defending AFC North champions.

The Bengals squandered a historic passing day by Baltimore legend and Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Flacco, as the Bears pulled ahead in the final 17 seconds to win 47-42. Despite entering with an A.C. joint issue, the grizzled 40-year-old dropped back nearly 50 times and threw for a career-high 470 yards, four touchdowns and a passer rating of 109.4.

With the result, the Bengals' record falls to 3-6, putting them half a game back of the Ravens in the standings and standing alone in third place, only ahead of the Cleveland Browns, who were on bye and are firmly in last place with a 2-6 record.

Turnover merchants hold on to pull off upset

Meanwhile in the Steel City, the first-place Steelers improved to 5-3 to extend their lead back to a game and a half with a 27-20 win over the Indianapolis Colts, who entered the matchup with the top record in the AFC. They were undone by a whopping six turnovers, five of which were committed by veteran quarterback Daniel Jones alone, with single-game season-highs in interceptions (3) and fumbles (2).

Pittsburgh's offense capitalized on all of Jones' mistakes, scoring 24 points off of those turnovers with three touchdowns and a pair of field goals. Even still, they had to sweat this one out, and the Colts still had a chance to win in the fourth quarter, but couldn't get out of their own way.

Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt (90) and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones (17) go for a loose in Week 9. — Nov 2, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt (90) and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones (17) go for a loose ball during the first half at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Against the league's other elite offenses, which are led by more dynamic quarterbacks who aren't likely to let early turnover issues continue to snowball and persist as the game goes on like Jones did, the Steelers will likely continue to have problems on that side of the ball.

They don't play the Ravens for the first time until Week 14 and by then, Lamar Jackson will have been a month removed from his return to the lineup after missing three games with a hamstring injury. In the meantime, they have matchups against the Justin Herbert, Caleb Williams, Josh Allen and Flacco, who has already beat them once this year.

The Ravens' still lead the odds to win the division. At FanDuel, they hold -135 odds to surpass Pittsburgh and walk away AFC North kings once again. Pittsburgh holds +135, the Bengals hold +1,500 odds and the Browns hold +6,000 odds.

After a successful weekend off, they'll begin working to prepare for the Minnesota Vikings, and trying to continue climbing the AFC North standings.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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