Browns can cap comeback season by denying their old selves

The 2018 Cleveland Browns didn’t end up sneaking into the postseason as some imagined they might, shocking the world and delivering a brief respite from the AFC powers-that-be. But they came pretty close.

That they made it to Dec. 22 before being eliminated from the playoffs with Tennessee’s win over Washington is remarkable in and of itself. It’s been four years since the Browns even lasted until December still in postseason contention.

In Week 17, they have a chance to secure just their third winning season since the franchise was resurrected in 1999. To do so, they’ll have to take out the former Browns, the Baltimore Ravens. The franchise’s departure from Cleveland was more than two decades ago, and the fact that the teams meet twice a season creates enough familiarity that some scars surely have healed. Still, it has to smart seeing how the Ravens have won two Super Bowls and been more or less postseason fixtures over that span, while the Browns have been synonymous with bottom feeders.

Rare is the occasion that a Browns game is flexed into a position that more people will see it, but that’s just what is happening in the final Sunday of the regular season. It’s not quite the Sunday night season finale, but it is one of the late afternoon games with clear playoff ramifications.

Sure, finishing with a winning record and posting a 6-2 mark in the second half of the season are fine things for a rebounding team to hang their hat on. However, beyond a fine moral victory and enjoyable vanquishing of enemies, it will likely have broad implications on the franchise’s future.

When Gregg Williams took over at midseason for the fired Hue Jackson, the most observers could muster were jokes about his opprobrious association with the New Orleans "Bountygate" defenses of a decade ago. That’s certainly worthwhile criticism, as is the knock on seeing the same old faces get coaching opportunities in the NFL.
Yet it’s difficult to argue that Williams hasn’t impressed. If the Browns knock off the Ravens in Baltimore to close out the season, he makes a convincing case for retaining the head coaching job going forward. 

Cleveland was buzzed about as a dark-horse playoff pick this summer thanks to the acquisition of some talented veterans in the offseason. In 2019, assuming the Browns are coming off a winning season, they’re likely to be presumptive playoff contenders, with or without Williams. It’s a difficult choice, and Romeo Crennel in Kansas City is proof that sometimes coaches do well on a season-filling, interim basis but are ultimately bad picks for the permanent job.

Before this season, Tyrod Taylor was seen as the steadying hand that could keep the Browns relevant until Baker Mayfield was ready. Taylor’s 2018 season ended up being remarkably brief and not particularly memorable. Ultimately, as a stopgap starter, that’s far from the worst thing, as Mayfield’s rookie season went as well as could be hoped. Immediately, he galvanized the offense when he took over for an injured Taylor in Week 3 and led a second-half comeback over the Jets to secure the Browns’ first victory since 2016. There have been the occasional growing pains, but it’s clear Cleveland, after extensive trial and error, appears to have landed a franchise quarterback.

As the season has worn on, the Browns and Ravens have been signaling a changing of the guard in the AFC North. While a Cleveland victory could result in the Steelers winning the title again, nevertheless the future of the division looks more and more like it will be in the hands of the teams on the field at M&T Bank Stadium on Sunday. Cleveland is respectable and hopeful for the first time in ages. Baltimore successfully transferred to its next quarterback and seems to be a better team for it. Meanwhile, while Pittsburgh hasn’t played terribly and has gotten some unfortunate luck with officiating here and there, the Steelers look likely to miss the playoffs for the first time in five years. That may not sound dire, but when you have an aging quarterback, seasons are not to be squandered frivolously.

Circumstances are such that the Browns can be proud and encouraged by their season regardless of what Week 17 holds. Of course, a good second half can be deceptive, as this year’s 49ers showed us, and a lot rides on their decision about the head coach. Gregg Williams has at least gotten himself in the long-term picture. That’s more than anyone would have expected, and so is the season the Browns have put together.