CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The season finale went as everyone expected.
Lamar Jackson threw for 217 yards and two touchdowns and Derrick Henry ran for 138 yards and two touchdowns as the Ravens rolled to a 35-10 win at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore Saturday evening.
Baltimore clinched their eighth AFC North title while the Browns finished last in the division for the 17th time since 1999.
Here’s a few Brownie Bites with this season now mercifully over.
Historic failure – This 3-14 finish might be the worst season for the franchise returned to the NFL in 1999, and that is saying something considering the team went 1-31 from 2016-2017 or started out 5-27 from 1999-2000. At least in both of those instances, the Browns were starting from the ground up. This team joins the 1999 and 2000 clubs with multiple losing streaks of at least five games in a season and the 14 losses tie the 1999 expansion team and marks the third time since 1999 they finished with 14 or more defeats in a season. Their point differential this season was one point worse than the winless 2017 Browns.
Stockpiling losses – From ownership through the front office and into the locker room, every member of the organization responsible for this season should feel ashamed. Ownership wants fans to keep paying more and more to watch this team lose at historic levels. The Browns are an NFL-worst 141-278-1 since returning in 1999 after fans flooded the league office with faxes to protest Art Modell’s move to Baltimore and sued in court to return a franchise and its tradition to Cleveland. Since the Haslam Sports Group took over in October 2012, they’ve been responsible for five coaching and GM changes, saw 24 quarterback changes while compiling a 72-132-1 record with two playoff appearances and one playoff victory. Now the Haslams will soon ask fans to pay even more for seats in a new dome, and probably require purchase of PSLs too. For what? To watch the Browns lose in comfort under a roof?
Accountability – In a normal world, Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski should both be fired for that disastrous season, but this is not a normal world. When Berry and Stefanski were hired in 2020, the organization seemed poised for sustained success. Five years later, that has not materialized, and most of the blame for that falls on Berry. Stefanski, a two-time NFL Coach of the Year winner, has had to deal with 11 different starting quarterbacks, which is not a winning formula while showing the willingness to be flexible and alter his staff and system as needed. Wouldn’t it be nice if Stefanski were empowered to run what he wants with the type of players he requires? Berry’s biggest blind spot has been loyalty to draft picks and ignoring red flags. Sure, there’s something to be said for giving young men second, third or fourth chances, but at some point Berry needs to believe the research and stop ignoring red flags, including character, the inability to learn a playbook and desire to be the very best. You can’t fix broken people, so stop hiring them. Firing Berry and or Stefanski doesn’t solve the problem, especially after ownership just gave both contract extensions. Nobody probably wants these jobs right now, so giving them an opportunity to clean up their own mess makes sense.
No easy fix – After spending over $300 million on this roster, the Browns are back to where they often end up having to hit the reset button – an older, overpriced and underperforming team that needs some sort of overhaul with an influx of younger, more talented players. And that needs to be Berry’s focus this offseason in between dumpster diving for their 41st starting quarterback since 1999.
Same song, different verse – Bailey Zappe was the 40th different starting quarterback for the franchise since 1999. The closest they came to ending the QB carousel was Baker Mayfield, who started 53 consecutive games from 2018-2021, after being selected first overall in the 2018 NFL Draft. They gave up six draft picks and fully guaranteed $230 million to bring in Deshaun Watson, who has been a complete failure. There is no world where they can run a worthless Watson back out there next season without losing the fanbase, and more importantly, the locker room.
Zapped – Zappe gave the Browns exactly what they needed Sunday, a loss. Zappe completed 16 of 31 passes for 170 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions, including a 26-yard pick-6 by Ravens cornerback Nate Wiggins to open the scoring in the first quarter. Dorian Thompson-Robinson played one series in the second quarter where he completed 2 of 3 passes for 13 yards.
Sacked – Myles Garrett did not register a sack Saturday keeping him at 14 and tied for the league lead with Bengals rusher Trey Hendrickson, who plays Saturday night against the Steelers. Garrett, who has been here eight years and is now 29, is fed up with the losing and if he wants to hear what Berry plans to do to fix this disaster before committing to another contract extension with two years remaining on his current deal.
Record breaker – Receiver Jerry Jeudy set the franchise record in the fourth quarter by catching six passes for 63 yards surpassing the previous mark of 89 set by Hall of Famer Ozzie Newsome (1983 & 1984) and Kellen Winslow Jr. (2006).
