Ravens Must Avoid Steelers' Chaos Trap

The Baltimore Ravens have experienced it all this season. They've had weeks of nonstop winning, a slew of crushing defeats, a regular assortment of nagging injuries and even the occasional stretch of scoring dominance across 13 weeks, leading them right back to a neutral 6-6 record.

That's somehow been good enough to land them with the temporary northern crown, as they currently lead the AFC North despite tying the Steelers with six wins of their own. While the Ravens have been putting their fans through concern after concern, the Steelers have simply fumbled their 4-1 start to the season by going 2-7 over their last seven in creating the inverse Ravens trajectory.

They've got the two cleanest shots at locking up the conference's No. 4 seed, adding even more stakes to their upcoming Week 14 matchup. Whoever wins on Sunday gets the clearest divisional advantage yet at this late stage in the season, and Pittsburgh's inserted enough mini-storylines on short notice to potentially throw the Ravens off of their trail.

Sifting Through the Nonsense

The Buffalo Bills put them through the ringer in pummeling the Steelers 26-7, leaving Pittsburgh with a fresh crop of worries going forward. Aaron Rodgers is more banged up than ever in crossing his 42nd birthday, star linebacker Roquan Smith seems questionable to return to Baltimore for a potential revenge game and fellow sack threat TJ Watt is as openly frustrated as he's ever been with the Steelers' operation. They sputter out to a neutral record like this every year at some point, and their most recent approach to breaking the schneid was signing Adam Thielen as another veteran to board the sinking ship.

Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback Aaron Rodgers — Nov 30, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) looks to pass during the second quarter against the Buffalo Bills at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

But according to Good Morning Football's Kyle Brandt, this chaotic hurricane is when the Ravens should be most on-edge. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin seemingly pulls off some version of this seemingly-inevitable resurrection every year, and he may just have his divisional rivals right where he wants them.

"I think they're going to win next week at Baltimore. I do," Brandt said. "Because this is how the Steelers work. This is how Mike Tomlin works. You get to 6-6, all is lost, it's post-apocalyptic, fire this person, cut this person. And like that, they find a way to win and the gravity kicks in. This is right where the Mike Tomlin Steelers live. When it seems like all hope is lost, oh, what do you know, they win two out of three."

The Steelers. Renegade. Rodgers. And a prediction for next week. pic.twitter.com/xUJHsWnBE1
— Kyle Brandt (@KyleBrandt) December 1, 2025

"I think that they're going to win at Baltimore next week because I've seen this before – maybe not this dismal. Rodgers will play, the defensive line out of nowhere is going to be all over Lamar [Jackson]. This is how it works."

The Ravens, Not Much Better Off

Their offense has been bland at best and, at times, completely absent, as the Bills learned. But how different are the Ravens? Their own star quarterback, Lamar Jackson, is over a decade younger but not much healthier, and rest of Baltimore's scoring attack has suffered from his inconsistencies and the unreliable offensive line.

They can laugh all they want at the Steelers' unimpressive defense at home, but they themselves ended up at the wrong end of an embarrassing defeat in falling to the Cincinnati Bengals 32-14. Countless mistakes continually took the wind from the Ravens' mistakes while Joe Burrow captained his team into a spoiler-status in his first game back, adding even more stakes to this loaded Week 14 matchup.

Even if the Steelers are publicly reeling, the Ravens have little reason to feel relaxed going into this one. A playoff trip rides on how they prepare for their final five games, which includes two Steelers games, and it's critical that they understand how much Coach Tomlin and friends thrive in these strange conditions.

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