Who's in charge of the AFC North? Maybe Joe Flacco. And the Cleveland Browns.

Week 18. Jan. 4, 2026. “Sunday Night Football.” Joe Flacco vs. Shedeur Sanders, flexed into prime time at Cincinnati’s Paycor Stadium with the AFC North title hanging in the balance.

OK, maybe this crystal ball is about as accurate as Flacco was with his previous team. But after watching the Bengals’ new/temporary/galvanizing/graybeard QB1 knock off the first-place Pittsburgh Steelers 33-31 on Thursday night while ending his latest club's four-game slide, it’s already worth wondering: Are the lowly Cleveland Browns ultimately going to determine their division’s champion?

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin already gave the notion credence, seeing it coming from a mile away when he uncharacteristically lashed out Monday.

“Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us because it doesn’t make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening day starter to a division opponent that’s hurting in that area,” Tomlin said of Cleveland’s general manager, who traded Flacco to the Joe Burrow-less Bengals last week.

“But that’s just my personal feeling.”