The Pittsburgh Steelers are the reigning AFC North champs, having taken down the Baltimore Ravens in Week 18 of the 2025 season to punch their ticket to the postseason.<\/p>\n
Since then, the Steelers have done nothing but improve<\/a>, based on the general consensus of their offseason so far. Meanwhile, the Ravens hemorrhaged talent<\/a> in free agency and had the Maxx Crosby trade fall through in an ugly situation.<\/p>\n Yet, for NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo, the Ravens should be viewed as the favorites in the AFC North entering the 2026 season. Not that he gave them a ringing endorsement.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess,\u201d Garofolo said Friday on Good Morning Football when asked if Baltimore is the favorite.<\/a> \u201cBut here\u2019s what\u2019s weird: everything in the AFC North has been flipped on its head for me. Because it used to be that you could\u2026like you\u2019d say, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s the toughest division to pick, \u2019cause you can make a case for everybody.\u2019 Now, it\u2019s almost like it\u2019s the toughest division to pick because you can poke holes in everybody, right? That\u2019s what happens when Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh leave the division. All of a sudden you don\u2019t know what you have.\u201d<\/p>\n The division underwent significant change early in the offseason with the Ravens firing Harbaugh in Baltimore and Tomlin resigning after the Steelers\u2019 Wild Card loss to Houston, ending 18- and 19-year runs, respectively.<\/p>\n Now, the Ravens are counting on Jesse Minter to right the ship, while 62-year-old Mike McCarthy was called home to shepherd the Steelers into a the post-Tomlin era.<\/a><\/p>\n The Steelers have made a lot of moves so far this offseason and, by most accounts, have improved. The Ravens did add a big piece in pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, but they also lost a ton of talent across the board in free agency, so there are questions about Baltimore moving forward.<\/p>\n