Clearly this season has not gone according to their plan, and another challenge today as the Bengals come to town opening up divisional play.  Thankfully the easy part of the schedule is over.  Should be noted they went 0-4 against the NFC East Division.  So we limp home after an 0-3 road trip with three games at home.  The next few games with the Bengals, Ravens and the new look Los Angeles Chargers.  Tough road.

We’re in a very interesting situation with an organization that’s becoming difficult to root for. The owner isn’t popular, same with the QB, the front office, and those above them in some made up role that no one seems to really understand making decisions that puts pride over winning.  So we sit here at 1-5, all the while having done stellar work in revitalizing other franchises like the Lions and the Texans.  Yes, the Lions too.  Sure Baker is having great success in Tampa, Flacco in Indy, and now Kareem Hunt running for the Chiefs, but they are far lesser of the offenders.  The Browns seemed to personally hate Baker and had no choice but to let Flacco go so we woudn’t have a mutiny, or any chance to win.  And Hunt seemed personal as well, 2 years in a row.  The Browns with their inflated view of self, honestly thought in 2022 they were Watson away from winning the Superbowl.

The Lions are now a real contender and when was the last time we said that?  We hired John Dorsey from the Chiefs in 2017 and he ran the Browns until 2019.  While at Kansas City, he was part of the team that traded UP to get Patrick Mahomes.  He was blasted in the media for taking Mahomes over Deshaun Watson.  Here, he drafted Myles Garrett, David Njoku, Nick Chubb, Denzel Ward, and others including Baker.  He made some mistakes here too, Freddie Kitchens?  But the biggest mistake he made was to challenge the front office in his root football beliefs.  He was a football man and they’re mathematicians.  He lost and was fired.  He went to the Lions, helped pull them off the scrap heap and now they are one of the best teams in the entire NFL, with many picking them to go to the Superbowl. They like us, have never been.  Can you imagine?   Too bad he wasn’t good enough to work here.

Then there’s the Texans. The minute they were able to gladly rid themselves of the troubled Watson to a desperate trading partner they could begin their rebuilding.  Enter the Browns, who have literally done a far better job at constructing a winner in Houston than here.  Dumping Watson, getting very draft rich from us has led the way to hire the games best young coach making Houston a real destination for free agents too. They went from 3-13 to a divisional title, to a home playoff game, to beating us in the playoffs by a mile.  BTW the Browns have not won their own division since the late 80’s, and THIS stadium has never hosted a playoff game.  To be fair, that trade had nothing to do with them getting CJ Stroud, but had a lot to do with a whole lot of other great young players on rookie contracts.  They too, like us have never been to the Superbowl.  Can you imagine?

From cutting, losing and firing good players and coaches, to drafting horribly since 2020, the Watson trade, to just not getting much of anything right the Browns are a mess right now.  The Lions and Texans are laughing at us, along with the rest of the NFL.  But as fans we are not.  It’s a real shame because many of the pieces were here at one time to go forward and be much better.

This team does have some pieces still in place. But with the trading deadline not far away, you wonder for how much longer.  The Browns have a player or two that could really help them beef up the draft next year and get things going again, and that has already begun.  But, you then have to pick the right players.  A loss to the Bengals today and I feel you may have to brace yourself.

In the meantime, Go Browns