NFL Preview: Ranking each division by strength

4. AFC North

Divisions facing the AFC North in 2015: AFC West & NFC West

The AFC North achieved the mark of a daunting division in 2014, sending three of its four teams into the playoffs for the AFC. Now, these ended up being seeds 4 through 6, but the North went 26-13 outside of the division, winning two- thirds of their games.

Those three playoff teams – the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals – all look like they are on the downswing. The Steelers lost bedrock defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, the Ravens are thinner along the defensive front with the departures of players like DT Haloti Ngata and DE/OLB Pernell McPhee, and the Bengals failed to inspire any confidence in an Andy Dalton improvement.

The Cleveland Browns, meanwhile, look primed to absolutely collapse. The teams absence of any nugget of talent or promise on offense (with the exception of the line of course) coincides with their lack of a cohesive plan on defense.

Regardless, this is a dangerous division, one with two teams that are still contenders for a title in Pittsburgh and Baltimore, and another than can make a serious run at returning to the playoffs in Cincinnati.

Next: NFC North