CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – For as gut-wrenching and frustrating Monday night’s 47-42 loss to the Ravens was, take a deep breath for a moment and relax.
The Browns maintain complete control of their own destiny to end the league’s longest playoff drought, but any hope to steal the AFC North from Pittsburgh likely went up in smoke.
“I am confident in this team, the guys around me and what we are doing,” quarterback Baker Mayfield said.
“This is an extremely important final stretch of games that we are going to take it one week at a time and we are going to handle it the right way.”
It is possible the Browns, who are at the Giants Sunday night and the 0-13 Jets before hosting the Steelers in Week 17, could finish 11-5 and still land in third place within the division by virtue of the Ravens’ season sweep.
Monday night, the now 8-5 Ravens needed the win more than the Browns because 10-6 may not be enough to get in this year.
“It felt like it was a playoff-like game – two teams battling for a spot,” Myles Garrett said.
Even if the Browns had won they would not have clinched.
The Browns will head into Week 15 still retaining the top Wild Card slot in the AFC and with a 1-game lead on Baltimore in the division with three games to play.
“Honestly, I think that was a good test,” Kareem Hunt said. “We just have to find a way to win that game. We have been in that situation now, and next time, we have to make it happen and find a way to win that game.”
Baltimore’s schedule is extremely favorable with the 1-12 Jaguars, 5-8 Giants and 2-10 Bengals remaining, meaning they’ll be able to run the table to finish 11-5.
The slumping Steelers retain command of the division and it’ll take them losing each of their 3 remaining games and the Browns winning out for Cleveland to steal the North.
Should the Browns and Steelers finish with identical records, Pittsburgh owns the divisional record tiebreaker thanks to Monday night's loss that dropped Cleveland to 2-3 within the division while the worst the Steelers can finish is 4-2.
Following Sunday night’s 26-15 loss to the Bills, Pittsburgh travels to Cincinnati next Monday night before hosting the current No. 6 seeded 9-4 Colts and then traveling to Cleveland.
The 8-5 Dolphins, who are currently the No. 7 seed, are in a perilous position coming off a 33-27 loss to the Chiefs. They host the 6-7 Patriots before hitting the road to face the 7-6 Raiders and 10-3 Bills.
Miami would need to win 2 of their final 3 games plus get the Browns to lose to the Giants and Steelers and have Baltimore run the table to qualify for the playoffs.
