With Tebow completing 6 of 22 passes for 60 yards and a game-sealing interception, Denver (8-8) claimed a first-round home game by virtue of a tiebreaker over Oakland and San Diego and will host Pittsburgh next weekend.

The Raiders’ loss also pushed the Bengals (9-7) into the playoffs as the sixth seed even though Cincinnati’s comeback fell short against Baltimore. Cincinnati will go on the road to play Houston (10-6), the No. 3 seed, in the first round.

With the Ravens (12-4) winning, the result of Pittsburgh’s game against Cleveland was all but meaningless. The Steelers (12-4) wound up beating their AFC North rival, 13-9, and are the No. 5 seed, but lost the tiebreaker to Baltimore, which swept the season series from the Steelers.

Baltimore didn’t have its game in hand until the final play, when Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton’s desperation pass fell incomplete as time expired.

Earlier in the afternoon, the New England Patriots secured the No. 1 seed in the AFC, and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, with a 49-21 victory over Buffalo. Quarterback Tom Brady passed for 338 yards and three touchdowns to rally New England from a three-touchdown deficit as the Patriots scored 49 consecutive points. The Patriots (13-3) finished the regular season with eight wins in a row, and Brady’s 5,235 yards passing were the second most in NFL history for one season.

While much of the AFC picture unfolded late in the afternoon, all but one of the NFC playoff teams were settled by the early games. A night game between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys would decide the NFC East champion and No. 4 seed.

The top-seeded Green Bay Packers (15-1), who clinched the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye last week, beat the Detroit Lions 45-41, despite five touchdowns and 520 yards passing by Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford,

The loss, coupled with Atlanta’s 45-24 win over Tampa Bay, made Detroit (10-6) the sixth seed. Detroit will play at New Orleans (13-3) in the first round. The Saints clobbered Carolina, 45-17, behind five touchdowns and 389 yards passing from quarterback Drew Brees, who finished the season with an NFL-record 5,476 yards passing. But the Saints drew the third seed when San Francisco (13-3) outlasted St. Louis, 34-27, to claim a first-round bye as the No. 2 seed and NFC West champion.

The fifth-seeded Falcons (10-6) will visit Dallas or New York in the first round.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh arrived for work in a good mood Tuesday morning following the San Francisco 49ers’ victory Monday night over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And with good reason: The Ravens moved back into first place with the Steelers’ loss.

“He was coming in: ‘Did you see that game? Who won?’” quarterback Joe Flacco said about Harbaugh. “OK, we all know who won the game. We know you’re way more excited now than you were two days ago. You could definitely tell he was excited, and we should be. We’re obviously in a better position because of what happened.”

The 49ers’ win over the Ravens’ AFC North rival put the Ravens (10-4) back in first place in the AFC North and into the second seed in the playoff standings.

The Ravens’ embarrassing 34-14 loss to the San Diego Chargers on Sunday night knocked them out of first place in the division for a day, and they fell from the top-seeded team in the AFC to fifth. Now, they’re second behind the New England Patriots.

The Ravens own the tiebreaker edge over the Steelers (10-4) after sweeping the annual series. They are in position to earn a first-round bye and a home playoff game provided they win their final two regular-season games against the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals.

“Man, it was a fun to watch,” Harbaugh said. “It was pretty cool. The fact that if we win both games now, we will win the division, that means a lot. That’s really meaningful. It’s a tough league, and we have to win every week.”

However, the Ravens would have preferred to not require assistance.

“It’s a gift, but we wish we didn’t have to get it that way,” linebacker Terrell Suggs said.

The Ravens are 7-0 at home heading into their home game Saturday against the Browns.

And they’re undefeated in their previous games against Cleveland and Cincinnati this season.

“We’ve just got to take care of business,” Suggs said. “We’re playing two teams that know us very well, two division foes, so it’s going to be interesting. We’ve got to get back to doing what we do best, and that’s playing Ravens football.”

Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh arrived for work in a good mood Tuesday morning following the San Francisco 49ers’ pivotal victory Monday night over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And with good reason: The Ravens moved back into first place with the Steelers’ loss.

“He was coming in: ‘Did you see that game? Who won?’” quarterback Joe Flacco said of Harbaugh. “OK, we all know who won the game. We know you’re way more excited now than you were two days ago. You could definitely tell he was excited, and we should be. We’re obviously in a better position because of what happened.”

The 49ers’ win over the Ravens’ AFC North rival puts the Ravens (10-4) back in first place in the AFC North and seeded second in the playoff standings.

The Ravens’ embarrassing 34-14 loss to the San Diego Chargers on Sunday night knocked them out of first place in the division for a day, and they fell from the top-seeded team in the AFC to fifth. Now, they’re ranked second in the playoff seeding behind the New England Patriots.

The Ravens own the tiebreaker edge over the Steelers (10-4) after sweeping their annual series earlier this season. They are now in position to earn a first-round bye and a home playoff game provided they win their final two regular-season games against the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals.

“Man, it was a fun to watch,” Harbaugh said. “It was pretty cool. The fact that if we win both games now, we will win the division, that means a lot. That’s really meaningful. It’s a tough league, and we have to win every week.”

However, the Ravens would have preferred to not require assistance.

“It’s a gift, but we wish we didn’t have to get it that way,” outside linebacker Terrell Suggs said.

The Ravens are 7-0 at home heading into Saturday’s game at M&T Bank Stadium against the Browns.

And they’re undefeated in their previous games against Cleveland and Cincinnati this season.

“We’ve just got to take care of business,” Suggs said. “We’re playing two teams that know us very well, two division foes, so it’s going to be interesting. We’ve got to get back to doing what we do best, and that’s playing Ravens football.”

All season long the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens have been battling back and forth for the lead in the AFC North. On Sunday night the Steelers retook the lead in the division-for now-when the Ravens lost to the San Diego Chargers by a score of 34-14. The loss drops the Ravens to 10-4 while the Steelers have a record of 10-3.

The best part about the Ravens usual choke job is that earlier this week I wrote my thoughts on Flacco whining about his team being disrespected by the media. It seems that Flacco believes that he and the Ravens deserve more attention than the Steelers, the New England Patriots and especially Tim Tebow. Then in typical Flacco and Ravens fashion they went out and proved exactly why they don’t get the respect the other teams do.

Nobody is perfect. The Green Bay Packers lost for the first time today and even the mighty Tebow couldn’t overcome the Patriots today. Championship caliber teams only allow this to happen once or twice though. The Ravens have now lost four times to teams they should have beaten. The first loss was against a Titans team that just lost to the previously 0-14 Titans. Loss two was to a 4-10 team and all the Ravens managed was a measly, meaningless touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Next the Ravens lost to a Seattle Seahawks team that is currently 7-7 but most agree it would be a joke if Seattle were a playoff team. Then finally the Ravens lost yesterday to a Chargers team that has some talented players that are finally playing well but a Ravens team aiming for the number one seed should not be beat by 20 points by anybody.

The Steelers have a half game lead over the Ravens in the AFC North but they have yet to play this week. Pittsburgh will play the Monday night game against the San Francisco 49ers. If the Steelers beat the 49ers they will move a full game ahead of the Ravens. If the Steelers lose in San Francisco then the Steelers will move back into a tie atop the AFC North but the Ravens hold the tiebreaker.

The big question for the Monday night game is Big Ben. The Steelers quarterback has been suffering from an ankle injury and is questionable for the game. Roethlisberger did manage to practice the last two days and some theorize now that the Ravens have lost and the Steelers can get the division lead that Roethlisberger will try to play.

On the opposite side of the ball James Harrison will be out for the Steelers after being suspended one game for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy two Thursdays ago. Playing in Harrison’s place will be Jason Worilds. Worilds is just a second-year player but has started the last four games in LaMarr’s Woodley’s place. Woodley will be back in the lineup on Monday so that allows Worilds to move to Harrison’s spot.

The Steelers need to win the game not only to hold the lead in the division but also to try and grab the number one overall seed in the AFC. Currently the Patriots are the number one seed because today’s win over the Denver Broncos gives them a half-game lead over the Steelers until the Monday Night game. If the Steelers are victorious over the 49ers then the Steelers will pull even with the Patriots and the tiebreaker would give the Steelers the number one seed.

Sources:

Denis Poroy, Philip Rivers leads San Diego Chargers to 34-14 rout of the Baltimore Ravens, The Washington Post

The last several generations of Lee Andrew Henderson’s family were Pittsburgh born and even though he was born in Alabama he has been a long time fan of the Pirates, Steelers and Panthers. Lee Andrew Henderson can be found on Twitter @LeeAHenderson

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.