Just like they drew it up: Bengals loss creates unpredictable opportunity for Steelers

A lot can change over the last 15 weeks of the NFL season, but the experts seem to have been pretty far off base with the projections for the AFC North. If you aren't familiar with all the expert projections on how that division would shape up, let me sum it up for you.

The top three finishers in the division seemed pretty unanimous: the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals, in whichever order you prefer. Some predicted the Browns to surprise everybody and take the division while most predicted the Bengals or Ravens to take home the crown. But nobody was predicting the Russell Wilson or Justin Fields-led Steelers to make any noise.

But, after three weeks of football, it's the Pittsburgh Steelers that stand atop the AFC North, to the surprise of everybody except those in the Steel City.

Steelers remain only team with winning record in AFC North after Week 3

Following Cincinnati's Monday Night loss to the Washington Commanders, the Bengals dropped to a terrible 0-3. Obviously, the season is still young and they can absolutely come back from this, but there were many experts predicting them to finish the season 12-5, 13-4 or even 14-3.

The Browns and Ravens aren't in the same boat, but they're struggling as well.

Baltimore sits at 1-2 with a win over the Cowboys and losses to the Raiders and Chiefs. All three of their games have been one-score games, so Baltimore could very easily be 3-0 if a few things had gone their way.

Cleveland also sits at 1-2, but they're at a much worse level of 1-2. They have a win over the Jaguars, who are winless this season, and losses to the Cowboys and Giants. Cleveland has looked terrible in each of their games this year, drawing confusion as to why the experts ever predicted this team to be good.

These three teams have left the door wide open for the Steelers to take ahold of the division. Albeit, the Steelers schedule looks a lot more daunting down the stretch. They finish the season with two games against the Ravens, Browns and Bengals as well as single games against the Chiefs and Eagles. The last eight games of the year could completely flip their record around.

But as of now, Justin Fields and the Pittsburgh Steelers are rolling. They handed Kirk Cousins and the Falcons a loss in Atlanta before traveling to Denver and dominating the Broncos. They completely dominated the top-ranked Chargers defense in the second half of Week 3 as well. The scoreboard doesn't completely reflect the fact that Pittsburgh has remained in control of each of its games while the rest of the AFC North is struggling to stay afloat.

A lot can change over the rest of the season, but the struggles from the AFC North have opened the door for the Steelers to shock the football world.