One: It was hard to have a better bye week than the Pittsburgh Steelers did on Sunday. Getting some rest after a trip overseas to Ireland, the Steelers got to sit back and watch as their division crumbled around them.

Cleveland, making the change from Joe Flacco to rookie quarterback and the Browns pick we’ve all been talking about, Shed…uh, Dillion Gabriel, lost on a last-minute comeback from Minnesota over in London.

Back on home soil, though, Baltimore was crushed at home vs Houston, who cruised to a 44-10 victory over backup Ravens quarterback Cooper Rush and statistically the worst defense in the NFL. And over in Cincinnati, fellow backup quarterback Jake Browning and the Bengals were soundly defeated by Detroit. The box score doesn’t tell the whole story of that game.

The AFC North has lost their two best quarterbacks heading into 2025 to injury, and one of them until at least December in Joe Burrow, and Cleveland’s uncertainty at the position still looms.

The Steelers, meanwhile, are somehow the healthiest at the position with 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers and a 3-1 team coming out of the bye. They are atop the division and are in prime position to claim a home playoff matchup. Now, it’s up to them to not blow it.

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Two: The Cincinnati Bengals have a problem.

Their roster construction is a risky endeavor, but when you have Joe Burrow at quarterback, there’s a decent chance that you can in fact outscore opponents 45-42 every week. But when Burrow goes down, having a backup quarterback contending with no defense to help him out on the other end is far harder to pull off.

Two years ago, Browning had a surprising emergence after coming in for the injured Burrow. But this year, it’s a bit of a different story.

Like I said before, the box score did not tell the whole story in Cincinnati on Sunday. Browning finished his day going 26-of-40 for 251 yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions. That’s not a great stat line anyways, but a lot of the positives there are window dressing.

Browning’s three touchdowns all came in the fourth quarter, after the Lions had had established a 28-3 lead. Yes, Browning did throw a pretty pass to Ja’Marr Chase for a 64-yard score, but it still came after the Bengals were way out of it.

After the game, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor responded to questions regarding Browning as the starter moving forward.

“After a game like that, we’re going to look at all personnel to make sure we’re doing the right thing,” Taylor said. “I won’t shy away from that, because it’s a very fair question after the amount of turnovers we had. But to say that I don’t think Jake can win games for us, I believe Jake can win games for us, I do. And we’ll just continue to look at everything we can, personnel-wise.”

Now look, maybe you want to take a year off. Having a high draft pick when you don’t need a quarterback is a pretty enjoyable spot to be. They can either potentially trade that pick for a haul, or address one of their many defensive needs with that selection.

But if the Bengals do want to try and salvage their season, their season is quickly slipping away. If Browning does still start next week, it feels like do-or-die for the 29-year-old.