Who wins the AFC North? It’s the NFL’s tightest race in 44 years

The AFC North might not be the best division in football, but it’s certainly the tightest.

With three weeks left in the regular season, any team can win it or finish last. It’s the closest division race in 44 years at this point in the season, with one game separating the teams at the top (Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens at 8-6) from the bottom (the Cleveland Browns at 7-7). The defending division champion Pittsburgh Steelers are a half-game back at 7-6-1.

According to research by the Elias Sports Burueau, the last time a division was this crowded with three weeks remaining was the AFC Central in 1977, when the Oilers were in Houston, the Ravens were the Browns and Terry Bradshaw was quarterbacking the eventual division champion Steelers.

In the AFC North this season, no team has led the division by more than one game through the first 15 weeks, setting up a dramatic finish. Will the Bengals go from last to first in one year? Will the Ravens win their third division title in four years with a banged-up Lamar Jackson? Will the Steelers deliver a ninth AFC North crown to Ben Roethlisberger in what could be his final season? Or will the Browns capture their first division championship since 1989?

Ravens guard Kevin Zeitler, the resident expert of the AFC North, understands the stakes over the next 20-something days.

“I’d say every week from here on out is a playoff game,” said Zeitler, who has also blocked for the Bengals and Browns.

The winner of Sunday’s game between the Bengals and Ravens (1 p.m. ET, CBS) will take hold of the AFC North, but every team still has a shot at the title.

“I think Cincinnati wins it, and I’ve felt this way for the last two months now,” said Dan Orlovsky, an analyst at ESPN. “I don’t think Pittsburgh is explosive enough…