Reality has set in for even the most die hard Browns fan as a result of Christmas Eve's cold weather fiasco at the stadium.  No playoffs for the Browns again this year.  I never expected them to come close this year and almost none of it had to do with the QB situation.  This team is not as good as the media thinks they.  The Browns right now, have the wrong idea and that needs to change.

This season didn't end last weekend in the frigid, it ended about 2:45PM on October 2nd of this year.  That was just after halftime of the Browns/Falcons game (game 4) of this season in Atlanta.  At halftime, a very mediocre Atlanta team, who we were already counting as an easy win, blew up the Browns entire season.  They decided to run the ball down the Browns throat and did exactly that with basically average running backs.  They saw the Browns have a very small, lightweight, speed defense with 215 pound linebackers and they went to work.

The blew us off the ball with 320 pound men the entire second half and won a game they themselves more than likely thought they would lose. Not only did they run it down our throats, they ran it up a few other sensitive areas too and got the win dropping us to 2-2.  BUT they gave the film to the league and the rest is 2022 history. The Browns never really recovered.  Ensuing teams just ran it right at us and we couldn't stop it. Even teams that didn't want to, ran it up against us.  Can't score if you don't have the ball, and so on.  It was embarrassing, being positively shoved around and being out manned every Sunday.  And that was after a couple of very embarrassing performances earlier in the season. Jets!~

That's just one area the Browns need to clean up.  Special teams are awful, defense is too small and really not good. I can only think of one game (Bengals game 1) the defense played really well against a GOOD team at FULL STRENGTH. They also have a ton of money invested in players that let this team down all year, especially early on.  Analytics are making in game decision making a real challenge, as we have many of the wrong personnel and no draft picks that really matter for a while. If they continue down this exact path, 2023 will be no better than this year.  They need to admit they are on the wrong path in not all, but many regards.

Next year is all being pinned on Watson and his full year availability.  Stefanski will get a full camp and year with him and that will buy the coach some time.  But it may not be enough. The division is just better than us, and next year, better still more than likely. This year we are going to finish in last place in the division and no media local or national saw that coming. And believe it or not, the Steelers are still in the playoff race, which is simply incredible.  See what a coach CAN do?  Mike Tomlin somehow has held his team together, with NOTHING to work with and they are still around.  Players will run through fire for him, I am envious.

The Browns need what the Steelers have, accountability.  They really have none from the top down.  The Browns just simply meander on like all is OK, and it's not by a long shot, and the record shows it.  They have to admit many of their players are overrated. They continue to invest in players no one else wants to pay big money too, and get minimal results.  We have a lot of players with "potential" after 5 or 6 years that gets old too.  They really need to self examine and take a path not yet taken by this franchise and get it right.  But my fear is that they won't have that kind of courage

Because what they DO have is the NFL's best running back in Nick Chubb.  The best offensive guard combo in the league,  a enviable offensive line, and a couple on defense that are as good as any.  They have the QB they wanted and one of the best fan bases in the entire league.  But do they have the guts to make the changes within the organization to be better, because THIS is not better.  Do they have the courage to admit wrongdoing, and poor choices? To have a better and deeper roster with the correct kind of players that can make a difference? Time will tell.

Fair question here. In their quest to reinvent the NFL with analytics and an Ivy League mentality and such, has the league passed them by with good football sense, physicality and better decision making?  Has attempting to be the smartest people on earth, actually been a real bozo move? Today, it seems so as there are a ton of teams that are really good right now that are old school tough and play football the way it's been played for 100 years.   Fair statement here too, as smart as they are, I don't ever recall any Ivy League team being ranked in College Football - ever.  Think Harvard could beat Ohio State?  Yeah, me either.

I'm not confident this bunch running the show here will have the humility to bow at the alter of pro football's history, as they seem more intent on reinventing something that is not really "reinventable."

GO BROWNS!!