Browns won't win AFC North title after Ravens rout Dolphins, but do secure AFC No. 5 seed

CLEVELAND — The Browns will have to settle for the top AFC wild card spot when they return to the playoffs. Their AFC North title hopes were dashed while they were enjoying a Sunday off.

The Baltimore Ravens clinched the AFC North championship when they rolled over the Miami Dolphins 56-19 Sunday afternoon in Baltimore. The win also clinched the No. 1 overall seed — and the accompanying opening-round bye — for the Ravens, who are an NFL-best 13-3.

Cleveland (11-5) was the last team to beat Baltimore, which has won six in a row. The Browns rallied from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat the Ravens 33-31 in Baltimore in Week 10 on Dustin Hopkins' last-second field goal.

The Browns' path to winning the AFC North — their first division title since winning the AFC Central in 1989 — involved Baltimore losing to both the Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers to close out the regular season. They also needed to win their own regular-season finale at the Cincinnati Bengals, who were eliminated from the playoff picture early Sunday evening after their 25-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Browns clinched a playoff berth Thursday night with a 37-20 win over the New York Jets. They can't finish any lower than the No. 5 seed, regardless of what happens in Cincinnati.

That may lead Browns coach Kevin Stefanski to rest some of his key players — such as left guard Joel Bitonio, receiver Amari Cooper and cornerback Denzel Ward — before the playoffs. He wouldn't commit to a path when asked Friday, although he acknowledged Sunday's games were a factor.

"I think it's so dependent on where you are and what you feel like you need for your football team," Stefanski said Friday. "Obviously, there's moving parts here going into these last ball games, so we'll see how it plays out on Sunday and then we'll make the appropriate decisions. But it doesn't change the fact that we want to finish strong."

Worst-case scenario in terms of playoff positioning if the Browns were to lose to the Bengals is they finish with the same 11-6 record as the Dolphins, should they also lose to the Buffalo Bills next week in what will be for the AFC East. However, Cleveland would have an 8-4 record in AFC games, compared to the 7-5 record Miami would have in that scenario.

The wild card round would have the Browns traveling to face the AFC South champion, which remains up in the air between three 9-7 teams: Jacksonville Jaguars, Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans. The Jaguars win the South with a win in Week 18 over the Tennessee Titans, while the winner of the Colts-Texans matchup in Indianapolis wins it with a Jaguars loss.

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns won't win AFC North over Ravens, but do secure AFC's No. 5 seed