Maybe Bengals-led AFC North isn't so amazing after all

Entering Week 13, the AFC North was everyone's darling division and the NFC South was everyone's dumpster division.

So what happened Sunday?

Entering the week, the AFC North had been 1-10-1 in games this season vs. the NFC South. But Sunday, the North looked quite ordinary — and in some cases bad — with the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers all losing and the Cincinnati Bengals barely escaping Tampa Bay with a win.

The Steelers and Ravens lost at home. That's twice now this season the Steelers have lost at home to an NFC South team with a sub-.500 mark, dropping this one to a New Orleans Saints outfit that had lost three straight (two at home) coming in. The Steelers grabbed an early 6-0 lead, but the Saints made it 21-6 and never looked back, leading by three scores in the fourth quarter.

The Ravens lost to a good San Diego Chargers team that has started to reassert itself, but blowing a 10-point lead at home with five minutes left really hurts in such a tight playoff race. A late pass-interference call against the Ravens was a killer, even if there was contact from both the DB and the receiver.

Meanwhile, Brian Hoyer had yet another forgettable game for the Browns, and his replacement — oh, you know him: Johnny Football — was not a lot better, at least not good enough to rescue the Browns from a 17-point hole in the final 12 minutes. It appears the Browns will make a QB assessment later this week, which is never a good thing when you're in the final quarter of the season and somehow still in the race.

So the Bengals stand on top, but how can they feel great about winning a game in which quarterback Andy Dalton threw three horrible picks and they won, essentially, on a 12-men-on-the-field call in the final minute?

Right now, the Bengals have a 1.5-game lead on the rest of the division at 8-3-1 compared to the other three teams' 7-5 records. But it's hard to feel as good about this division on Sunday as we did coming in to the weekend.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm

from Yahoo Sports http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/maybe-bengals-led-afc-north-isn-t-so-amazing-after-all-215541461.html