How Close Are the Browns?

With the Super Bowl being played this weekend, of course there has been talk about how close or how far the Cleveland Browns are from appearing in their first Super Bowl. 

This is the 45th championship game in the Super Bowl era and to fans of the brown and orange, it might as well be a rumor. 

No one remembers that the Browns were once one of the flagship franchises of the NFL.  In fact, during a feature on former Packer coach Vince Lombardi on ESPN, they listed teams with the most wins while Lombardi was in charge of the Pack.

Green Bay ranked first, followed by the Colts and Browns.  And that was a down period for Cleveland as it was in between the great Paul Brown led teams in the early 1950’s and the Blanton Collier teams of the mid to late 60’s, which were consistently in the playoffs.

Yes, people, at one point, many, many years ago, the Cleveland Browns were a powerhouse in the NFL.

But how close are they to getting in the post-season?

First, you have to understand that one season turnarounds happen all the time in the NFL.  This year, it was the Kansas City Chiefs that emerged as a playoff team, going from 4-12 to 10-6. 

The Browns even went from a 4-12 season in 2006 to a 10-6 record in 2007, and then back to 4-12 in ’08.

The first thing the organization has to do is get better within the division.  Cleveland won one game in the AFC North last season, beating Cincinnati in week 4.  They have to get to the point where they can at least split the six divisional games if they want to compete.

If you were a critic of Eric Mangini, you probably think the Browns are close to contention.  You can point to several games down the stretch that the team could have won, but didn’t.

Those games would be losses to Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Jacksonville, Buffalo, and Cincinnati.  Winning just two of those games would have put the Browns at 7-9, and people around the league would have the team poised to make a playoff push in 2011.

Winning three of the five would have put the team at 8-8.

The anti-Mangini people would say poor coaching, mainly offensive play calling and strategy made the Browns 5-11, not a lack of talent. 

They would say the coaching problem has been solved, and look for a big improvement next season. 

This makes more sense than the pro-Mangini forces who would blame everything on not having the right players.

You have to go back to the eye test.  What did you see when you watched those games?

If you are honest with yourself, you would admit all of those games were very winnable, in fact, the Browns led most of them heading into the fourth quarter.

They weren’t overwhelmed in any game this season until the last one, when they were blown out by the Steelers, who by the way are playing in the Super Bowl this weekend.

It follows then, that with another good draft (GM Tom Heckert did well in his first), some tweaking of the offensive philosophy (moving to a west coast offense), and a better head coach, the Browns could get to eight or nine wins this season.

Especially with an easier schedule because they will play the NFC West (Seattle, Arizona, San Francisco, and St. Louis). 

They do need to upgrade the defense, which should still be the focus of this year’s draft along with getting a wide receiver and an offensive lineman, because that wins in this division.

The NFL has shown that it is possible to make a quick rise in the standings.  The Cleveland Browns may not be as far away as it may seem right now.

JD