According to ESPN’s Football Power Index — an in-house prediction model based on 10,000 simulations of the season — the Baltimore Ravens have exactly a 44.9 percent chance to make the playoffs entering the 2019 season. The model also has the Ravens’ projected win total set at 8.5 games and gives the team a 30 percent chance to win the AFC North. Their Super Bowl prospects are more grim, as the FPI pegs Baltimore’s championship chances at 2 percent for 2019.
Despite closing out last season as the third-place finisher in the division, the Cleveland Browns are the favorites to take the AFC North, with the FPI giving the Browns a 36 percent chance to win it for the first time since 1989. The Pittsburgh Steelers, meanwhile, were given a 31 percent chance to win the division. The projected win totals for Cleveland and Pittsburgh are 8.8 and 8.5 wins, respectively. Not to be forgotten, the Cincinnati Bengals are projected to be a bottom-of-the-barrel team — the FPI sets their win total at six and gives them a mere 4 percent chance to win the division.
