This Is Better Than 0-16! Right? Right?
Record-wise, these Cleveland Browns of 2021 are currently 7-9 with a single game to play in this new extended season. That’s obviously better than not winning a single game in the entire season or only going 1-15, too.
RIGHT?
However, with the expectations so high in this season after the Browns making the playoffs last year and beating those very same Pittsburgh Steelers on the road; it feels different.
What is the team going to do with quarterback Baker Mayfield who has had an absolutely dreadful season? Yes, one can blame it on the injuries, the COVID, the coaching and more. However, he did not live up to the expectations that everyone was expecting from him.
In 14 games, he had 13 interceptions along with countless poor decisions and inaccurate throws. It’s been tough to watch when progression was expected.
Now, the team has a single game left against the Cincinnati Bengals. Even though it is a home game, this one will probably be just as difficult to watch as the Steelers game. The Browns have lost all motivation and desire to win with the opportunity to make the playoffs gone.
Hard to blame them, frankly.
It’s the countless close affairs earlier in the season where the team had an opportunity to win and blew it. Those games represent how terrible this has been overall. How there was so much potential for a year that could’ve been filled with greatness yet it ended up in sorrow.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that any team in any sport that wants to be a playoff contender has to win those close games. It just didn’t happen this year.
The Browns are going to have to regroup and reset in the coming years. Sure, the squad isn’t trying to bounce back from 0-16, but it doesn’t feel like to end result of this season is anything good.
Certainly, this offseason is going to be an interesting one filled with ups and downs and countless moves made in order to improve the team for next year. The biggest question mark stands at the quarterback position and what the team will do with Baker Mayfield and his option for next year and beyond.
0-16 was rough, 1-15 was just about as rough, but there is something about this season that has us feeling miserable in a way that doesn’t feel good either. This offseason is going to take a lot of work from the franchise in order to this team formidable for next season.
Let’s see what these Browns got next fall.
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