It looked like 2020 would be more of the same for the Browns after their opening-week loss to the Ravens (a 38-6 thumping at Baltimore), but instead Cleveland has quietly run its record to 4-1 under first-year coach Kevin Stefanski.
It’s easy to see why Cleveland, who hasn’t experienced a winning season, much less a playoff appearance, since 2007, has been so dominant. The Browns’ offense has been unstoppable, averaging a robust 37.5 points over the team’s current four-game winning streak. Per ESPN Stats and Information, the Browns have logged 30+ points in each of their last four contests, a feat the long-suffering franchise last accomplished in 1968, 14 years before Stefanski was born. ESPN also notes the Browns’ 4-1 start is their best since 1994.
The latter stat is a fascinating nugget on a number of different levels. For Cleveland, much has transpired in the last 26 years. Beyond countless quarterback and head-coaching changes, the Browns also closed shop for three years (1996-98) after the team defected to Baltimore to become the Ravens. Most interesting of all, the Browns in their 1994 incarnation were coached by none other than, you guessed it, Bill Belichick.
Emperor Bill wasn’t long for Cleveland, lasting just five years in the Rock and Roll Capital, a span that included just one winning season, which happened to be 1994. After his dismissal in 1996 (he was promptly replaced by Brian Billick), Belichick resurfaced as a Patriots and Jets assistant before ascending to New England’s head-coaching position (vacated by Pete Carroll) in 2000. That came after a brief, but memorable one-day tenure atop the Jets’ chain of command, a stunt that, for a time, soured Belichick’s relationship with his longtime mentor, Bill Parcells.
With Myles Garrett (six sacks, three forced fumbles) emerging as an early Defensive Player of the Year candidate and the ground game off to a similarly explosive start (league-high 188.4 rushing yards per game), the Browns are on track to make the playoffs (76.8-percent likelihood) for the first time since 2002. According to Seth Walder of ESPN Analytics, Cleveland also boasts the league’s 10th-highest Super Bowl probability with a 1.4-percent chance of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in February.
The surging Browns will look to stay hot when they travel to Pittsburgh for a date against the undefeated Steelers in Week 6.
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