Editor's note: Tony Grossi covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN 850 WKNR.

There was a time in the old AFC Central Division -- the forerunner to today’s AFC North -- when the Pittsburgh coach hated the Houston coach, the Houston coach hated the Cincinnati coach, and the Cincinnati coach disparaged Cleveland fans with a public address announcement in his stadium that made national news.

And the Browns, led by staid coach Marty Schottenheimer, were above it all.

They’d whip their rivals so regularly that they finished first in their division four out of five years, and made the wild card in the one season they came in second.

Browns fans would shower their rivals in pre-game warm-ups with dog biscuits hurled from the Dawg Pound – the real one, which doesn’t exist anymore.

Old Municipal Stadium was an unwelcome destination for visiting rivals. They would complain about everything -- cold showers, cramped lockers fitted with rusty nails on which to hang their clothes, and moon-like field conditions.

“Painted dirt,” one rival team executive snorted about the Browns’ field.

Those were the 1980s, the bygone glory days of Browns’ division rivalries.

Can those days return? They may be closer than you think.

The revival: The resurgence of the Browns this season is rooted in their improved play in division games.

It started with an unprecedented 21-21 tie against the heavily-favored Steelers in the season opener.

Then came a 12-9 overtime win over the Ravens in Game 5 – Baker Mayfield’s first victorious start.

A 33-18 loss in Pittsburgh in Game 8 was Hue Jackson’s last game as Browns coach, marking the fifth time in nine years the Browns fired their coach after losing to the Steelers.

Jackson took a job with Cincinnati two weeks later, and Mayfield’s personal vendetta resulted in a sweep of the Bengals -- 35-20 in Game 11, and 26-18 in Game 15.

Mayfield’s snubs of Jackson’s pre- and post-game hugs in the first meeting and his viral stare-down of Jackson in the second one did more to restore the Battle of Ohio than anything since Sam Wyche’s admonishment of Cleveland fans in his famous impromptu P.A. rant in 1989.

All of which set has set up a splendiferous conclusion to the 2018 season.

The Bengals (6-9) play the Steelers (8-6-1) in Pittsburgh on Sunday. The Browns (7-7-1) play the Ravens (9-6) in Baltimore on Sunday.

The NFL flexed both games to 4:25 p.m. because of the playoff ramifications. CBS dispatched its No. 1 announcing team of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo to the Browns-Ravens game because both teams are playing good football behind exciting rookie quarterbacks Mayfield and Lamar Jackson.

The Steelers are 14-point favorites to beat the Bengals. If the Steelers win, their destiny is controlled by Browns.

A win by the Browns in Baltimore knocks out the Ravens for the fourth year in a row and hands the division title to Pittsburgh. A Browns’ loss in Baltimore knocks the Steelers out of the playoffs for the first time in five years.

In a nod to the mixed feelings of Browns fans who hate the Steelers and Ravens equally for different reasons, receiver Jarvis Landry said in jest, “I wish we could tie, and nobody gets in.”

A fitting climax: Browns right tackle Chris Hubbard heard from some former Pittsburgh Steelers teammates this week and an assistant coach.

The message has been on the order of, “Please … please … win your game on Sunday.”

“Plenty of them, man. Cam [Heyward], the O-line, they hit me up," Hubbard said.

“They’re really encouraging me. I’ve heard from my [former] assistant O-line coach, Shaun Sarrett. He hit me up. Actually, I hit him up for his birthday and he told me, ‘Kill the purple.’”

The purple, of course, are the Ravens. They’re the team that former Browns owner and all-time Cleveland sports villain Art Modell renamed after ripping Cleveland’s heart out and moving the Browns to Baltimore in 1996. Five years later, they won the Super Bowl.

“Damn,” Landry said, when informed of that history. “That hurt, didn't it?”

Yeah. So has the domination and decimation of the Browns since they were reborn as an expansion franchise in 1999.

Leading into this year, the Steelers were 33-6 against the Browns, counting a post-season game, since 1999.

The Ravens were 29-9.

The Bengals were 26-12.

But this year, the Browns are 3-1-1 against those teams with one to play. The seasons of the Steelers and the Ravens are riding on Sunday’s game in Baltimore, which is why interim coach Gregg Williams is calling it a playoff game.

And the Steelers are begging the Browns to win.

“It’s just funny to see that the ball is in our court,” said Hubbard. “To see them asking us to win ... c’mon, man.

“We’ve got to win for them to get into the playoffs. But we want to win for us, too, you know what I mean? To be 8-7 [and one tie], c’mon, it’s been a long time. The city needs it.

“I tell you what, man, it’s been a great year to see us change the way we did, and see us evolve the way we are. It’s a beautiful thing. It’s a big step for the next upcoming year, and to get this win would be huge.”

Receiver Rashard Higgins suffered two years in Cleveland without winning a game in the division. Now he holds the playoff fate of two rivals in his hands.

“It’s kind of a messed-up situation,” Higgins said. “We don’t want either one of them to go. But somebody has to go.”

It could have been the Browns. Had they not missed a field goal at the end of overtime in the first game against Pittsburgh – it was blocked by T.J. Watt – the Browns would be playing for the division title.

After everything that has happened this year – Hard Knocks, mid-season coach firings, the handing-off of the team to Mayfield, a coaching search? What a crazy year.

There are two morals to this story.

The Browns and the division rivalries are back.

And next year, win the opener, for goodness sakes.