| It was the final day of January and the sun was shining in Miami because – well, it usually does there – and Baker Mayfield was talking about having fun. Things were a lot different back in Super Bowl week and most people probably had greater cause for general optimism, but Mayfield, in town like many NFL quarterbacks during the game’s biggest party, was specific. He wanted the Cleveland Browns to start winning more frequently, but more than anything else, he wanted them to start enjoying themselves. “Winning is fun but to get there and get to winning you have got to have fun throughout the process,” Mayfield told me, a few days before Patrick Mahomes led the Kansas City Chiefs to triumph. Mayfield’s message was clear. Instead of being hidebound by pressures, elevated expectations and the frustration of failed seasons past, the quarterback wanted his team to be a more relaxed group going into the current campaign. |
Hmm. How’s that working out for you, Baker? The answer might be largely dictated by the outcome of Thursday night’s clash between Mayfield’s Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals. For if the Browns lose this one, let’s be real, this year will start looking like no fun at all. There have been plenty of false starts and supposed new dawns for Cleveland, but few match last year’s effort in terms of disappointment. Having gone in as many people’s pick to win the AFC North and a sneaky long-shot Super Bowl sleeper for some, it didn’t turn out that way at all. Things started dismally, scarcely improved, and finished horribly, all that promise flushed away with a 6-10 record, despite the presence of Odell Beckham Jr., Jarvis Landry and other talents to back up Mayfield on the offensive side of the ball. |
Now, just days into the restart, major questions are being asked. Losing to a legitimate Super Bowl contender in the Baltimore Ravens, like they did in Week 1, can be forgiven. Getting overturned by an Ohio rival that won only two games last year and has a rookie QB, albeit a really good one in Joe Burrow, would be much harder to deal with. “What if it goes really bad?” FS1’s Kevin Wildes asked on First Things First. “I am ready and I am very early on this. We are going to climb the mountain of ‘must-win’ and plant Baker Mayfield’s flag at the summit. Sure, if you lose to the Ravens, ah, they are Super Bowl contenders, but if you lose to the fellow No. 1 pick in the Battle of Ohio, to a rookie on a short week, whooo, this might be must-win.” Burned by experience, observers around the league have been nowhere near as high on the Browns this time around. “They do not have the same massive expectations that the 2019 team did,” wrote The Ringer’s Kevin Clark. “And they made improvements in the offseason, switching out (coach) Freddie Kitchens for (Kevin) Stefanski and helping out the offensive line by signing tackle Jack Conklin and drafting tackle Jedrick Wills in the first round. |
“It will be a particularly important year for Mayfield, who regressed significantly in 2019 after breaking the rookie touchdown passing record the year prior.” According to FOX Bet, the Browns are currently listed as a six-point favorite in Thursday’s matchup with the Bengals. They are +700 to win the AFC North, while Cincinnati is +3500. The glossiest interpretation of Thursday night’s game is that it is a chance to get things on track, at least to a point. In truth, it is a game with everything to lose. Cleveland is not likely to start getting anointed as a team on the rise by beating Cincinnati, but a defeat would lead to the assumption that this is yet another lost campaign, and maybe a QB worth giving up on. First Things First co-host Brandon Marshall offered a blueprint for what the Browns need to do on the field to maximize their chance of success. |
“Get (Beckham) involved early,” Marshall said. “If you can get him two or three wide receiver screens, he is someone who can save you late. “When you have Kareem Hunt and you have Nick Chubb, commit to the run so you can help your struggling QB. Let’s not get lost in the shuffle. On third down you have to go through Jarvis Landry. He has the most chemistry with the QB, more than anyone on your team. And the last thing that the Browns need to do if they are going to come out victorious, they have to play better defense.” In truth, these are worrisome times in Cleveland, a reality that should be made obvious by the fact that we are talking about them needing to beat the Bengals to save their season, with no certainty that it is going to happen. “It feels so much worse right now because when you try extra hard the failure feels more acute,” Cleveland supporter Erik Lockwood told me. “We have really good players who have thrived elsewhere and here they are no good. In some ways it is worse than when we were truly terrible and expected nothing more.” Maybe it all changes from here. Mayfield may not have a ton of time but he does have a chance to resurrect his career and people’s belief in him. Beckham starting to shine and becoming a true superstar once again would not be a monumental surprise. Stefanski, the Browns’ new head coach, has a defined opportunity to make his name. If it all clicks, just like that, now that would be a lot of fun. Right now, there’s surely not much humor to be found. |
Here’s what others have said … Terry Pluto, Cleveland Plain Dealer: “Even if they are 0-2 after Thursday, I don’t write off the season. They have 10 days to pull things together before facing Washington. They also will have a chance to assess the team after playing real games. That should help.” Josh Brown, Dawg Pound Daily: “After the debacle of last year and then the egg laid Sunday, Kevin Stefanski needs to have a bounce-back game. For him, not only does he need a win, but he needs to show he coached his team to this win. The Browns need to show discipline throughout the game.” Peter Schrager, Good Morning Football: “This is an important game for the Browns, make no doubt about it. They have the Washington Football Team next week. This team could very easily go 0-3, or they could be 2-1 at the end of three weeks. Tonight is huge for them. Think about the cross-town rivalry. Think about the division. This is a team they have to beat if you are going to be a playoff team. I think the goal, before they started the season, wasn’t to have building blocks for next year, the goal was to be a playoff team. You can’t start the season 0-2 with the second game being a nationally televised loss to the worst team in football from a year ago and their rookie quarterback.” |
