If you had told Cleveland Browns diehards following the 2017 season that they'd be watching a 6-5 team heading into Week 12 of the 2021 season and right in the playoff mix, they'd probably drop to the ground and kiss your feet. Just the thought of having a winning season in a relatively short period of time, after a decade of losing, losing and more losing... that would have been so nice to hear, no?
As it turns out, the 5-5 Browns marched into Week 11, won a game to improve to 6-5 and... were showered in boos by some members of the Cleveland fan base, mainly due to the play of quarterback Baker Mayfield. Granted, completing about half of your pass attempts to pick up 176 yards while throwing two interceptions against a pretty horrendous defense isn't exactly a great day out there. But a win's a win, right?
That was Rich Eisen's primary argument (head to around the 11-minute mark), especially considering the fans that booed are the same fans that languished in borderline-unwatchable football for years and years as recently as just a handful of seasons ago.
"Let me just say this to the fans that are booing Baker Mayfield right now. And I'll just repeat what I said for weeks coming in," Eisen began. "Do you want Spergon Wynn back? Do you really think Case Keenum is the answer? Do you forget what it's been like this entire time? Do you forget, honestly? Do you want that revolving door back? Do you want Hue Jackson back in there, starting Tyrod Taylor over this kid? Like, what do you want?"
Eisen went on to acknowledge that it's understandable for fans to want to win more frequently in the follow-up to a strong 2020 campaign — and more decisively against meager opponents like the Lions — but also pleads that fans realize the team isn't at full strength, and Mayfield is included in that.
"Your line's not healthy. You're not there. And you're just two weeks removed from him going in, and I gave him the proper 'atta boy,' (for) what he did against the Cincinnati Bengals," Eisen said. "...And guess what? We could be six days removed from him doing that to the Ravens, and then all of a sudden everything's hunky-dory, he's going on a bye and you're like, 'Let's rest up Baker, because we can't do this with Case Keenum!'
"That's how stupid it is. You're 6-5. You didn't lose!"
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Eisen's admonishment didn't only touch on the fans' behavior, though. Even though he clearly feels as though fans should not be booing their quarterback, for all the reasons listed above, he wasn't all too high on Mayfield's "uncaring" response to their booing.
"Here's my two cents that Baker either will take or doesn't care about... I just wouldn't stoop down, honestly. To basically say that you don't care about fans will never work out for anybody, anywhere, ever," Eisen said. "And I totally would understand it that he would get upset at people booing him when he's trying his a-- off... but as you know, sometimes you just can't resist going straight at stuff and it just doesn't serve well. It doesn't end well for a lot of people."
There are clearly a huge variety of opinions on the whole Browns' situation right now, and it will be very interesting to see how the rest of the season might play out. Literally nothing is out of the question — a deep playoff run, a losing record and everything in between.
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