The Pittsburgh Steelers have been the big brother in the AFC North pretty much since its inception on almost an annual basis. For those who may need a refresher, the AFC North was created in 2002 when the NFL reformulated the divisions to accommodate a 32-team league with the Houston Texans arriving as a new expansion team, ‘North’ and ‘South’ divisions in each conference replacing ‘Central’ divisions, which is where the Steelers used to play.
It’s certainly no coincidence, as that time largely overlaps with Ben Roethlisberger’s tenure as quarterback here. And prior to this recent three-game winning streak for the Cincinnati Bengals, they had only beaten the Steelers as AFC North rivals just eight times over 40 games played.