Cleveland Browns @ Pittsburgh Steelers Thurs. Dec. 8, 2011 8:20 p.m. EST

The AFC North division title will almost certainly be won by the Baltimore Ravens this season as head coach John Harbaugh has gotten this team firing on all cylinders with some big wins over the arch division rival Cincinnati Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Not only have the Ravens gotten the best of all the teams in the AFC North this season and are bound to wrap up the division title, but they also made a statement on Thanksgiving Day by beating the San Francisco 49ers in Baltimore.

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As if the win over his younger brother Jim Harbaugh wasn’t sweet enough, John Harbaugh was able to beat one of the best teams in the league with the 49ers having the second-best record in the NFL. This win turned a lot of heads around the league as many people started to consider the Ravens as a legitimate Super Bowl title contender and perhaps the favorites to come out of the AFC Conference this season.

Steelers runningback Rashard Mendenhall

Despite no longer being in the running for the AFC North division title, the Pittsburgh Steelers still have a great chance of getting back into the playoffs through the AFC Wild Card. With the two spots in the AFC Wild Card up grabs, Big Ben Roethlisberger and company will continue to have something to play for and an opportunity to get some revenge against the red-hot Baltimore Ravens in the playoffs.

In the meantime, the Pittsburgh Steelers will have a relatively easy task at hand in Week 14 as they will host the lowly division rival Cleveland Browns at Heinz Field on Thursday night. This may be a game being played on a short week for Mike Tomlin and his aging football team, but the Steelers won’t have much competition from the Browns who have struggled all season long.

Pro Bowl running back and Madden cover athlete Peyton Hillis may have finally gotten back on the football field for the Cleveland Browns for the last two weeks, but the results have been the same for the Browns as they still can’t figure out a way to win football games. There is a slight chance that the Browns will be able to challenge the Steelers’ defense on Thursday night with some hardnosed football in the ground game, but smart money says this will be just another easy win for the Pittsburgh Steelers who will almost certainly improve their record to 10-3.

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With a 10-3 record, the Pittsburgh Steelers will take one step closer to clinching a playoff spot and the Cleveland Browns will take one step closer to getting a higher draft pick in the 2011 NFL draft.

As of right now, the Pittsburgh Steelers have been heavily favored with a -14 point spread. This spread is fairly high and something that the Steelers will struggle to cover.

Take the Browns at +14.

Before this NFL regular season began, the Minnesota Vikings had high hopes of reaching elite status in the NFC Conference once again as they were able to replace NFL legend Brett Favre with another potential Hall-of-Fame quarterback in Donovan McNabb. With McNabb being dealt to Minnesota after a disappointing season in Washington, the Vikings looked like they could be a dynamic offense once again with the veteran quarterback pairing up with superstar running back Adrian Peterson.

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Even though McNabb had a clean slate, Peterson coming out of the backfield and a dominant defense backing him up, the once perennial Pro Bowler just couldn’t get the job done in Minnesota as he struggled right out of the gate. Shortly after taking over as the starting quarterback for the recently retired Brett Favre, Donovan McNabb was headed to the bench in favor of rookie quarterback Christian Ponder.

With Ponder being potentially the most NFL-ready rookie quarterback coming into this season, new head coach Leslie Frazier was confident that the young kid could get the job done and give the Vikings a chance to be competitive football team every single week. Unfortunately, despite playing well at times, Ponder hasn’t been able to turn this team around as the Minnesota Vikings have a 2-9 record and a three-game losing streak heading into Week 13.

Donovan McNabb

Despite the Vikings struggling to get back to form this season and rookie Christian Ponder still adjusting to the starting role in Minnesota, the team has decided to part ways with backup Donovan McNabb. By waiving McNabb, the Vikings have saved $1.6 million and have given the 13-year veteran quarterback a chance to sign with another team to play out the rest of the season.

With all the quarterback injuries over the past few weeks, there will be no shortage of suitors for Donovan McNabb as some of those teams are trying to make a run at the playoffs. The one team that will most likely be the most interested in Donovan McNabb moving forward will be the Chicago Bears. Now that franchise quarterback Jay Cutler has gone down for the year with a broken thumb that required surgery, the Bears will almost certainly be interested in McNabb once he hits the waiver wire.

The Bears do have backup quarterback Caleb Haine and just signed veteran Josh McCown, but they might take a look at signing McNabb. Two other teams that might be interesting in Donovan McNabb are the Houston Texans and the Dallas Cowboys.

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The Texans will definitely be looking into signing McNabb as they have suffered major setbacks in the last few weeks by losing starting quarterbacks in consecutive weeks. With Matt Schaub going down for the season one week and Matt Leinart a week later, the Texans were forced to use third stringer T.J. Yates and after last week’s performance they know they need a better player in that position in order to make a deep run in the playoffs.

The Cleveland Browns came into this NFL regular season with high hopes of finally being able to turn the corner and contend of a playoff spot in the AFC Conference. With the Browns playing in one of the toughest divisions in the NFL in the AFC North, the chances of competing for the division title with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens were slim, but contending for the AFC Wild Card was a possibility.

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With the struggling Browns franchise getting a breath of fresh air last season with the emergence of Pro Bowl running back Peyton Hillis and franchise quarterback Colt McCoy there was hope for the future, but it was uncertain whether or not this would be the season that this team would emerge as a legitimate force to be reckoned with.

Peyton Hillis

Unfortunately, the Cleveland Browns have failed to live up to expectations once again as Peyton Hillis has been a bust this year and Colt McCoy is still adjusting the professional level. There is no question that is team still has potential to turn it around in the near future, but this year is a lost cause as Cleveland sits in last place in the AFC North division with a disappointing 4-6 record.

Despite the making the playoffs in the AFC Conference being impossibility at this point in the season, the Cleveland Browns did get some good news heading into Week 12 as Peyton Hillis has been upgraded to a game-time decision. Last season Hollis may have been considered to be amongst the best of the best at his position with the likes of Arian Foster (Houston Texans), Chris Johnson (Tennessee Titans) and Adrian Peterson (Minnesota Vikings), but this year has been a struggle from start to finish as he has dealt with multiple injuries and a contract dispute with the Browns.

With Hollis’ future in Cleveland looking to be in serious doubt as the team is unsure of signing the up-and-coming running back to a long-term deal, the Pro Bowler has had a rough year and has thought about becoming a free agent and leaving. After missing the last six games with a severely sprained hamstring, Peyton Hollis’ value has gone through the floor for the Cleveland Browns, but with the star running back practicing again he could be ready to go this weekend against the division rival Cincinnati Bengals.

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Even if Peyton Hollis goes elsewhere next season, the Pro Bowl running back needs to get back on the field in order to help the Cleveland Browns finish the season with a .500 record and convince other teams around the league that last season was no fluke. After practicing on Friday, the Browns hope to get him back on the gridiron this Sunday, but as of right now he is nothing more than game-time decision and could very well be watching from the sidelines once again.

One of the most competitive divisions in the NFL this season has been without doubt the AFC West division with all four teams seemingly in the running for the division title. The San Diego Chargers took yet another major blow to their playoff hopes in Week 11 with their fourth consecutive loss after losing the red-hot Chicago Bears, but despite being in fourth place in the division, the Chargers might still have a shot.

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Along with the San Diego Chargers, the Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders all could potentially be the division winner at season’s end, but Carson Palmer and company made some distance between the other teams with a second straight win with a victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Week 11.

The Vikings have been an interesting team this season as their defense has been one of the best in the league. The pass defense hasn’t been all that sharp this year as Minnesota gives up 259 passing yards a game (28^th in the NFL), but the run defense only gives up 100.7 rushing yards per game (5^th in the NFL) and would be Oakland’s toughest challenge.

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With perennial Pro Bowl running back Darren McFadden still on the sidelines with an ankle injury that has caused him to miss the last few games, the Oakland Raiders turned to backup Michael Bush once again. After an impressive performance against the division rival San Diego Chargers in Week 10, the Raiders had a lot of faith in Bush and for good reason as he rushed for a game-high 109 yards and a touchdown.

The Minnesota Vikings on the other hand were not so lucky in the running game as superstar running back Adrian Peterson went down with ankle sprain that kept him out of the game for the entire second half. Peterson still managed to score a rushing touchdown, but was pretty ineffective otherwise with just 26 rushing yards before injuring his ankle in the second quarter.

With Adrian Peterson helpless on the sidelines, the Vikings turned to rookie quarterback Christian Ponder to lead the offense and get this team back in the game against an Oakland Raiders squad that was firing on all cylinders in the first half. Despite being a rookie, Ponder played well enough in the second half to get Minnesota back in the game with two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to Percy Harvin and Kyle Rudolph.

Even though Ponder was staging a comeback and looked like he might be able to lead the Vikings to victory, the three interceptions he had earlier in the game turned out to be too costly for Minnesota as they ultimately fell to Oakland, 27-21.

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This was another impressive performance by the new starting quarterback of the Raiders as Carson Palmer threw for 164 yards and a touchdown on 17-of-23 passing. Along with no turnovers and efficient numbers, Palmer also added a rushing touchdown as he now has two wins as the Raiders’ starter under center.

The Oakland Raiders now sit atop the AFC West division with a 6-4 record heading into Week 12 against the banged up Chicago Bears who just lost starting quarterback Jay Cutler to a broken thumb.