The AFC North should be fun this year. With the Cleveland Browns generating some positive offseason momentum and the Pittsburgh Steelers re-hitching their wagon to Aaron Rodgers, the division should be as wide open as any year in recent memory.
That should lead to plenty of the good stuff — good old-fashioned tension between rival teams and fan bases.
On that front, the NFL’s 2026 schedule release tossed some gas on the fire. The Steelers, for example, get the Browns twice over the first eight weeks of the season, and neither of them look all that favorable for Pittsburgh on paper. The Steelers also don’t play the Ravens until late December, with their first meeting in Week 15 and their second in Week 18.
The Bengals’ schedule is much more spread out. Aside from an early Week 6 bye and three straight night games in Weeks 9 through 11, Joe Burrow and company should have a clear path back to relevance and the AFC playoffs.
Cincinnati will, however, face Cleveland in Weeks 13 and 18, which is notable because the Browns have been a major thorn in Zac Taylor’s side over the years. Since 2020, the Browns actually have a 7-5 record head-to-head in the rivalry, including sweeping the season series twice (2020 and 2021) and splitting three times, including in 2025.
Myles Garrett and the Browns never make it easy on Burrow and company, which led Bengals expert Matt Fitzgerald of Stripe Hype to name Cleveland as the team he’d like to beat the most in 2026. The main targets of his argument? Owner Jimmy Haslam and quarterback Deshaun Watson.
“The Browns are always a tough out because of their defense,” Fitzgerald said. “Burrow has trouble with them. I just can't stand Deshaun Watson. He doesn't deserve to play another down in the NFL. Cleveland is just a despicable football operation on many levels, but acquiring Watson in the first place was a new low. I hope Watson starts so the Bengals can ruin his confidence and send him to the bench/out of football for good.”
The Browns are finally getting under Bengals fans’ skin again
No argument here on Watson. Browns fans wanted him off the roster for years. But while it’s fair to take the low-hanging fruit and blast a trade and contract made about four years ago, calling the Browns despicable for potentially playing Watson this season feels a little aggressive.
The only reason Watson is still on the roster is because the Browns wouldn’t be able to field a team in 2026 if they cut him. They’ve been planning to release him in March of 2027 with a post-June 1 designation. Whether he plays a snap or not this season, that expiration date will mercifully arrive and the Watson saga in Cleveland will be over.
To be clear, the majority of Browns fans aren't rooting for Watson to be the Week 1 starter this year. Shedeur Sanders rising up and beating out the veteran coming off two Achilles surgeries is the obvious best-case scenario. But if Watson is the best man for the job in training camp, the Browns will have to hold their noses and play him. They’re paying him $46 million this year either way, so if he really proves to be the best player on the field, so be it.
This was also rich commentary coming from a Bengals fan. The Cincinnati Bengals have hardly been a model franchise when it comes to rostering law-abiding citizens. They infamously had 10 separate players arrested in a single league year in 2006. From Vontaze Burfict to Adam “Pacman” Jones to Joe Mixon, the Bengals have made enough baffling personnel decisions to more than give the Browns and Watson a run for their money.
The silver lining here is that the Browns feel more relevant now than they have been in a while. They should be better in 2026 and more competitive within the division, and Bengals fans clearly weren’t thrilled to see a pair of matchups with Cleveland over the final six weeks of their schedule.
Add us as a preferred source on Google