Every morning, grab a cup of coffee and get your AFC North wake-up call here:

It's only fitting that the best season in the 10-year history of the AFC North comes down to such high drama in the final week of the regular season.

The Ravens and Steelers, who are both 11-4, have already clinched a playoff berth but they have plenty at stake. One of these division rivals could end up as high as the AFC's top seed -- with a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs -- and one will finish as the No. 5 seed that has to play on the road in the first round.

The Bengals clinched a rare winning season at 9-6 but they haven't clinched a postseason berth. They're in if they win (beating Baltimore at home Sunday). They could be out if they lose. But they could lose and still be in (if Jets and Broncos both lose or if Jets and Raiders both lose).

And then there are the Browns (4-11), who nearly have as many losses as the other three division teams combined (14). If Cleveland loses, the Browns secure a spot in the top 5 in the 2012 draft. If the Browns lose and the Vikings win, Cleveland would move to No. 3.

So the regular-season finales are important for everyone in the AFC North.

Here's what the local columnists are saying around the division:

BENGALS: The Cincinnati Enquirer's Paul Daugherty says it's time for the Bengals to define their season. "Right now, [Cincinnati] has the inside track on the sixth and final [playoff] spot," Daugherty wrote. "Various Bengals talked openly about that after the game, if not for publication. A few speculated a first-round game at Houston wouldn’t be that bad. The Texans rookie QB T.J. Yates couldn’t do again what he did two weeks ago. Then, possibly Round 2 at New England, where an already lousy defense keeps getting players hurt. On the record, of course, the players added, 'but we have to take care of our business first.'"

BROWNS: The Cleveland Plain Dealer's Terry Pluto says the Browns' dumbfounding errors are growing wearisome. "I don't even want to talk about the last part of the fourth quarter," Pluto wrote. "There was a silly pass to [Peyton] Hillis on a fourth-down play designed to go nowhere. Rookie Phil Taylor jumped offsides, denying the Browns one last chance to get the ball -- it came after a timeout where the coaches warned the defense that Baltimore would try to entice someone in an orange helmet into a penalty. The new year and a new season can't come fast enough for Browns fans, because this one has gotten to be very, very old."

RAVENS: The Baltimore Sun's Peter Schmuck says Ravens fans should buy up the empty seats in Cincinnati to make this important regular-season finale less of a road game. "I didn't want to have to go here, but if the Bengals were hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers with so much on the line for both teams, you can bet there would be a lot of black jerseys in the stadium, even with Charlie Batch at quarterback," Schmuck wrote. "Steelers fans travel in droves, which makes them like Boston Red Sox, just without the irritating sense of entitlement. Plenty of rabid Ravens fans travel, too, but this week, they need to convince some their friends to come along."

STEELERS: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Gene Collier says it's hard to take anything away from shutting out the lowly Rams. "It's rare in an offense-flooded NFL that anyone runs up against a team like the St. Louis Rams, a team that a top defense likely should shut out," Collier wrote. "The Rams come pre-packaged for a skunking. You can go ahead and try to make them one dimensional, but really, with a third-string quarterback and no legitimate receiving threats, this team should be marked NO DISASSEMBLY REQUIRED."