If the Browns lose to Pittsburgh Sunday, chalk this one up to the Factory of Sadness.
Mark it down. The Browns season will have been a disaster if the team misses the playoffs.
I know, I know. Ten wins! They’ve turned the corner.
No, actually they haven’t. Being better than 4-12 is great, but simply being happy with 10 wins is settling.
It’s especially true if it turns out that the only thing between the most downtrodden franchise in professional sports and their first playoff berth in 17 seasons was one measly win against a one-win Jets team, or Steelers group playing its JV squad.
If you’ll play history professor, you’ll also remember the Browns “turning the corner” when they picked up those 10 wins in 2007. We all thought Derek Anderson was the franchise savior, while Braylon Edwards was poised to be the second coming of Paul Warfield.
Talking of “Changing the culture” is still a buzz phrase the media likes to use concerning the Browns digging themselves out of a 21-year pit–and, well, this is what changing is all about. End the season on a high note, not the sour image of losing that’s plagued the franchise since the organization moved to Baltimore after the 1995 campaign.
If the Browns can’t close the deal Sunday, think of the offseason we’ll endure. Do you like talk radio debating whether Baker Mayfield is the answer at quarterback? Well, tune in for your daily dose, as hosts will remind you every five minutes Baker couldn’t lift Cleveland over Sam Darnold and Mason Rudolph.
Additionally, while the Steelers will be playing backups, just know that Pittsburgh is going to play to win. They always do. How many a time has Pittsburgh rolled into town at the end of the season playing its reserves with its playoff berth already secured? Yet the Browns still can’t get over on the Terrible Towels.
The Browns’ big names are expected to play in this game, although COVID contract tracing is doing its best to derail the city’s postseason hopes.
The Browns could always back into the playoffs with a loss, and if it happens, that’s fine. The organization will have received some fruit for their labor. However, there’s no way the Colts are losing to the Jaguars with Jacksonville one game away from Trevor Lawrence.
COVID-19 restrictions are doing their best to throw adversity at the Browns, but make no mistake about, this is where changing the culture starts and they’re just one win away.