Get ready for some ugly

Oddsmakers, those purveyors of sports betting wisdom, say the Baltimore Ravens are 10 points better than the Browns Sunday afternoon.

Yes they did. The winners of 10 straight National Football League games are a mere 10 points better than a team rife with problems and closing out the 2019 season with more questions than when they started.

Maybe the odds boys know something we mortals do not because the 10 points seem a wee bit on the low side, even in Cleveland.

Never mind the Browns humiliated the AFC North champions on their home turf way back in week four to forge a tie with the Ravens for first place. That’s ancient history.

And never mind the Browns easily qualify as the most disappointing team in the NFL this season by a significant margin.

The Ravens have clinched just about everything but home field advantage throughout the playoffs. That is their goal Sunday as they help the Browns wrap up the home part of their schedule.

Oh. . .  and one more goal. The Ravens have not forgotten that late September Sunday back home when the Browns administered a 40-25 beatdown in front of the stunned hometown folks.

That’s the afternoon Baker Mayfield threw for 342 yards and a touchdown, Nick Chubb ran for 165 yards – remember that 88-yard burst for one of this three touchdowns? – and Jarvis Landry caught eight passes for 167 yards.

With three minutes left in regulation, the Browns owned a 40-18 lead, exploding for 30 second-half points. It was a victory that, in retrospect, made absolutely no sense.

No one can adequately explain why the Browns were so much better that day than any other throughout the season. It, again retrospectively, was very much an aberration.

Spoiler alert! That’s not going to happen again Sunday on the lakefront. They are teams clearly heading in opposite directions.

The Ravens are playing the best football in the entire league behind the wizardry of Lamar Jackson, who has emerged as unquestionably the best quarterback of the 2018 draft class.

The Browns, meanwhile, are plunging in a southerly direction in the AFC North.  The only reason they don’t occupy the basement for the umpteenth time in the last 20 years resides in Cincinnati with the hapless Bengals.

After what happened in the desert a week ago, Freddie Kitchens desperately needs a victory against the Ravens to save his job. Anything less – and that includes a decent showing in defeat – pretty much would signal a departure for the rookie head coach.

The likelihood of that eventuating ranks somewhere between “are you ready for a miracle?” and “are you kidding me?”, the wisdom of the oddsmakers notwithstanding.

No, the best shot Kitchens had at wearing the top whistle next season evaporated against one of the weakest teams in the NFL last Sunday in the desert in what qualifies as the biggest surprising loss of the season.

As the losses pile up for this franchise, the anger and disappointment in the Ivory Tower in Berea have risen. This is not even close to what they envisioned this season.

The shocking lack of progress and improvement have become stultifying to the followers of this talented football team. One has to wonder whether Kitchens has lost this team.

What happens Sunday is almost certain to add another demerit to his head-coaching portfolio. This team has not played competitive football as a team for more than a month.

More and more, at least through this lens, they seem to be playing more for themselves than their coach. Sure they were 4-1 in one stretch, but the soft schedule had a lot to do with that.

Injuries and a key suspension to a star performer have hurt, especially on defense. But other teams have similar problems and somehow survive.

Sunday’s game represents the ultimate litmus test for this team. The Ravens will arrive spitting angry after that embarrassing loss in the first game, You can bet every member of that team circled Dec. 22 in red on their schedule.

They don’t have to be reminded. Here they are 10 straight victories later against a struggling team tightly in their crosshairs, clearly focused.

In Berea this week, wide receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Landry denied reports they solicited players on other teams to get them out of Cleveland. Hard to concentrate on the Ravens with all the other distractions.

That shouldn’t be happening at all regardless of the time of year. Keeping a lid on such matters has proved difficult for Kitchens. It will be interesting to see if the focus is there come game time Sunday.

No need to go over the statistics for this one. The Ravens are flat out the better team, excelling in all three phases of the game. It doesn’t take much to figure out they are far superior to the Browns, who are badly limping toward the finish line.

There will be no upset. Not even the most ardent sycophant can honestly say they believe the Browns can win this one. Hope they win, maybe. Hope is all they’ve got.

That’s why it’s a bit confounding oddsmakers are spotting the Browns only 10 points.

One prediction outside of the final score: Garrett Gilbert will take his first meaningful snaps of the season after the Ravens’ pass rush manhandles the Cleveland offensive line and abuses Mayfield to the point where Kitchens has to remove him in the fourth quarter to protect his health. Make it:

Ravens 40, Browns 13