It’s been a weird week within a weird 2020 NFL season.
(Crowd: How weird is it?)
It’s so weird that Cleveland Browns fans openly rooted for the Pittsburgh Steelers to win a regular-season game on a Wednesday afternoon.
That was the case on Wednesday, and the Steelers winning proved beneficial for the Browns. In beating the COVID-19, err, Baltimore Ravens, the Steelers helped Cleveland’s burgeoning playoff hopes.
The Steelers remained unbeaten, improving to 11-0 with an oddly difficult 19-14 win over a bunch of guys in Ravens uniforms, many of whom don’t regularly play much.
Pittsburgh is almost certainly out of reach in the AFC North, building up a three-game lead on the 8-3 Browns with five games to play. It’s still worth the charge and aspiration for Cleveland to chase, but realistically, the Browns are fighting for second place and Wild Card positioning. And that means every Ravens loss is worthy of a hearty woof from the Dawg Pound faithful.
The Ravens fell to 6-5 in losing for the fourth time in five weeks since their bye. They’re now two full games behind the Browns in the chase for one of the three Wild Card spots.
Cleveland holds that top spot, the No. 5 seed, with the 8-3 record. There are now a few teams in between the Browns and Ravens, too. At 7-4, the Dolphins and Colts represent the other two playoff teams through Week 12. The Raiders at 6-5 are also ahead of the Ravens based on conference record tiebreaker, and that’s an area where the Ravens are really in trouble. They are one of the two playoff aspirants with a losing record (they’re 4-5) within the AFC. Cleveland is 5-3. The Colts, who the Browns beat earlier this year, are 3-4.
It might have been done through clenched teeth, but rooting for the Steelers in the unusual midweek game paid off for Browns fans.
