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It will be different this year

For the last two decades, Browns Nation has complained about the treatment their team has received from the media.

Ever since the rebirth in 1999 of what used to be one of the National Football League’s stalwart franchises, forced unfairly to take a three-year break, it has been a performance and media disaster.

Not nearly enough coverage of the Browns, fans cried out. And they bitched and moaned the attention they received was all negative. The media hates the Browns., they thought. Wrongly because this franchise was run as poorly as possible.

That’s not the way it was supposed to be the last 20 years. No one would have forecast this franchise, hampered annually by dysfunction and mismanagement, would struggle and find winning to be foreign.

The last two decades have produced a 95-224-1 record (a .298 winning percentage), 15 double-digit loss seasons, 15 cellar finishes in the division, only one double-digit winning season (10-6 in 2007) and just one playoff game (a loss in 2002).

The Browns were consistent in only one department – losing. Losing year in and year out wore out the dwindling faithful. It was so bad, hopes often faded after the season opener (they have won only one in those 20 years).

It is arguably the worst 20-year record of any team in the history of the NFL. It includes, sadly and embarrassingly, only the second 0-16 record in league history. They unbelievably complied almost as many losses (94) in the first nine seasons as they have victories (95) in the last 20 seasons.

Is it any wonder the Browns became a national joke, the punch line for every joke about sad sack losers? Perhaps that’s why the national media, for the most part, virtually ignored and treated this franchise like the stepchild it actually was.

Fans at or below the age of 20 for the most part have no idea of what winning football is in Cleveland. Same for those on the precipice of joining the millennial crowd. They can only imagine, mainly through their parents’ stories of the legacy of this franchise, what is was like back in the day.

Well, all that is about to change.

In just 18 months, General Manager John Dorsey has transformed the Browns from a national laughingstock into one of the most talented and talked-about franchises in the league.

Whenever conversations about the 2019 NFL season is the main topic, the Cleveland Browns vault to the top of those discussions, Many pundits are predicting the Browns to actually win the AFC North this season.

No longer will Browns Nation complain about its team being neglected or ridiculed.. The NFL landscape, they believe, is about to witness what has caused Browns fans to be more justifiably excited than at any time since the Bernie Kosar era more than 30 years ago.

The national media has glommed onto the 2019 Browns, due mainly to the architectural brilliance of Dorsey, who has assembled one hell of a roster. It has the potential to be a juggernaut.

Most major national news outlets will be in Berea for the opening of training camp tomorrow (Thursday) morning in Berea. The Browns have become the NFL’s sexiest franchise.

No longer will NFL fans be able conflate bad football with the Browns. No longer will the stain of ugly football be associated with City of Cleveland. A gigantic national spotlight lurks just around the corner.

A whole new generation of Cleveland fans, most of whom have no institutional knowledge of just how good this franchise once was, have either hopped on board the bandwagon or are seriously considering doing so.

The major networks have hopped on board, too, scheduling the Browns for four nationally televised evening games (three in the first five weeks of the season) with the distinct possibility of being even more later in the season when networks have the discretion of switching games if they become more meaningful.

They want to give as much exposure to the likes of Baker Mayfield, Odell Beckham Jr., Nick Chubb and Jarvis Landry on offense and Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward on defense.

The Browns boast quality depth on both sides of the football, courtesy of Dorsey’s moves. There are a few weaknesses the veteran coaching staff can scheme around.

Some skeptics among the many pundits assessing what the immediate future holds for the Browns cite one major weakness, or one they perceive as a weakness: Head coach Freddie Kitchens, the stunning hire by Dorsey.

The affable Alabaman has never been a head coach at any level. He was hired technically as Cleveland’s associate head coach and running backs coach last season. The highest he has ever risen was as the Browns’ interim offensive coordinator following the firing of Hue Jackson and Todd Haley midway through last season.

Being a head coach, pundits point out, is an entirely different world.  Coaching 53 men is radically different than being a position coach. The responsibilities are much more complex and varied

No one knows how Kitchens will react once the season commences, whether he’ll be able to successfully handle the complex chores of a head coach. This is a brand new world for him. There is no question, however, that he is a players’ coach.

Looking at the total picture, his success depends a lot on how he handles griping players. How will he deal with the little fires that are bound to break out during the season? Everything team related will travel through his office.

Kitchens has wisely surrounded himself with smart and very creative coordinators in Todd Monken on offense and Steve Wilks on defense. That counts as a decided plus.

The big question now is how Kitchens will handle the possibility of his men stalling and staggering out of the starting gate and finding unexpected and disappointing underperformances. Sure it’s a hypothetical, but the first half of the schedule is easily more difficult than the final eight weeks. Unrealistic expectations? Perhaps.

You can also lump Browns Nation into that unrealistic expectations camp. A great many of those fans expect, not hope, expect the Browns, capitalizing on last season’s strong second half, to blow out of the gate. That is not a given. Far from it.

The Browns surprised just about everyone last season, winning five of their last eight games and finishing 7-8-1. This season, they will wear sizable bull’s-eyes on the backs of their uniforms. They will catch no one by surprise.

The key to whether the Browns will experience the postseason for the first time in 17 years depends largely on how well the players play respond to and play for their neophyte head coach.

At this point, everyone is sanguine about the situation, which means anything is possible.

Tomorrow; breaking down the offense and defense and predicting roster cuts.