Close, but . . . 

Before unpacking the ingredients that could foretell what will unfold Sunday in Pittsburgh when the resurgent Browns invade to play the Steelers, a perfunctory but necessary look at the preponderant history between these two teams.

They have been playing each other twice a year -- with the exception of a three-year Cleveland absence in the late 1990s due to National Football League ignorance -- since 1950. Sunday''s game marks the 137th meeting in a rivalry rife with lopsided results.

For example -- this will be extremely hard for Browns loyalists to believe -- the Browns won 34 of the first 44 games against the Steelers between 1950 and 1971. Since then, they are an embarrassing 25-66 against their turnpike rivals. 

Since 1969, when Cleveland native (Benedictine High School) Chuck Noll took over as Steelers head coach, the Browns have had 20 (full-time and interim) head coaches. Twenty!! Kevin Stefanski is No. 20. Since 1969, the Steelers have had only three head coaches -- Noll,  Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin.

That should tell you something right there. Stability is the name o the game in the NFL. The Steelers with their three head coaches in the last 52 years, have been in the playoffs 30 times, won six Super Bowl championships in eight attempts and are off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 1979. For what it's worth, they lost game five that season.

Cleveland qualified only 11 times for the playoffs since 1969, 10 by the old Browns. The resurrected Browns were in the playoffs only once, That was in 2002 when they blew a large early lead and lost to -- yep -- the Steelers in what foretold an ominous future that dragged Cleveland professional football to depths never even imagined. Since 1994, the Browns are 8-40-1 against Pittsburgh.

The stats leading up to games between these teams make Browns fans ill, feeding the anger they hope gives away to the joy they hope to feel when good fortune finally turns in their favor. Entering this game with a 4-1 record gives them the kind of hope they haven't experienced since . . . well, since can't remember when.

Some of the recent stats hang like a tight chain around the Browns' necks. Like the 16-game losing streak in Pittsburgh. Or Ben Roethlisberger's 23-2-1 record against them and the fact he has never lost to them at home. Big Ben joined the Steelers in 2004, the year after the Browns' last victory in Pittsburgh.

(In case you're interested, Roethlisberger was available to the Browns in that college draft, but head coach Butch Davis preferred Kellen Winslow Jr. And we all know how that turned out.)

I remember that 33-13 manhandling well. I was lying on my back in a hospital bed with an extremely painful kidney stone.The enjoyment I derived from watching that game helped ease the pain. Not completely, mind you, but enough to forget how painful each movement of the stone was. It was like a three-hour shot of a painkiller.

It is assumed Stefanski is extremely aware from a historical standpoint the importance of this game. For example, if you win only two games in a season and both are against Pittsburgh, that's nearly the equivalent of a successful season. Of course that's an extreme example, but you get the point. 

The odds are clearly in the Browns' favor Sunday, although oddsmakers like the Steelers by three and a half points. They've got to win there sometime. And with the explosive nature of the Cleveland offense this season, why not now? The 2003 victory was only their second in Pittsburgh since 1990 over a 29-game stretch.

Words that eventually reach the opposition's bulletin board are flowing. Pittsburgh defensive end Cameron Heyward talked about "inflicting good pain" on Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, who enters the game with bruised ribs. Browns' defensive end Myles Garrett says he looks forward to meeting up with Roethlisberger in the Pittsburgh backfield.

Right now, it's anybody's guess how Stefanski will approach this game from an offensive standpoint. Will he try to run the ball first as he did against Cincinnati, Washington and Dallas in order to set up the pass? Or will he come out throwing as he did last Sunday against Indianapolis?

The Steelers, playing their fourth straight game at home due to a week three COVID-19 postponement in Tennessee, have flat out stopped the run this season, limiting opponents to 64 yards a game. The Colts were pretty good against the run, too, and Stefanski took to the air. Guess here is Mayfield will be throwing.

That, of course, would give the Steelers more opportunities to improve on the five-sacks-a-game pace they have maintained thus far. Edge rushers T. J. Watt and Bud Dupree are arguably the best rush tandem in the NFL.

Browns offensive tackles JedrickWills Jr., who will face Dupree, and Jack Conklin, who draws Watt, are the keys in this one. Unless, that is, Stefanski gameplans to get Mayfield out of the pocket as often as possible. Throwing from outside the pocket is where he is most effective.

If Stefanski dials up pocket passes, quick-developing throws work best with Mayfield, who must deliver the ball quickly in order to be effective. If he hesitates even for a second without getting rid of the football, a negative play looms. Count to three. If the ball isn't gone by three, look out.

Timing is everything in the passing game. If Mayfield doesn't trust his receivers to  run correct routes and deliver the ball on time, Stefanski might as well roll him out in either direction as often as possible to where he has time to pick his target.

The Browns enter the game looking more like part of a M*A*S*H unit with 10 players either out or questionable. They questionable include Mayfield and receivers Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. on offense, punter Jamie Gillan and tackle Larry Ogunjobi and end Olivier Vernon on defense. Out are guard Wyatt Teller, safeties Ronnie Harrison Jr., and Karl Joseph and linebacker Jacob Phillips.

The Browns defensively remain the same team that upchucks points on a regular basis. However, it has begun to show some bite lately with 11 takeaways in the last three games. What it lacks in talent, it makes up in opportunism.

The Steelers, meanwhile, chug along with Roethlisberger, who missed most of last season with an elbow injury and didn't face the Browns, showing his old form this season. It's not the same old bash-your-face type of offense. It doesn't have to be. The defense has played a big part in the early success.

The Steelers keep coming up with unlikely stars on offense. Last Sunday, receiver Diontae Johnson left the game early against Philadelphia with an injury and was replaced by 6-4, 240-pound Chase Claypool, who proceeded to score four touchdowns, three through the air. Stuff like that doesn't happen in Cleveland.

Add standouts like JuJu Smith-Schuster and tight ends Eric Ebron and Vance McDonald and you can see why the Steelers convert half of their third downs, average nearly 140 yards on the ground with James Conner and Benny Snell carrying the load behind a veery good offensive line and Big Ben completing nearly 70% of his passes with 10 touchdowns and just one interception.

The current Steelers defense isn't much different than the old one, featuring the zone blitz scheme popularized by former coordinator Dick LeBeau that worked so well through the years. Watt, Dupree, Heyward and Stephone Tuitt own a dozen of those 20 sacks. 

This one has the aroma of another scoring bonanza with the Browns seriously challenging the Steelers' defense with some serious talent. And there is no way the Cleveland defense all of sudden overachieves, especially with an injury-riddled secondary.

It could be one of those games where the team that has the ball last wins the game. If that's the case, it's difficult to bet against Big Ben with the game on the line. Mayfield hasn't shown that capability since his rookie season.

The Browns will make a game of it and at the same time send a message not only to Pittsburgh but the rest of the NFL that these are not your old, downtrodden, make-fun-of Cleveland Browns anymore. The sleeping giant is stirring. Won't help this game, though. But the future begins to glow. Make it:

Steelers 30, Browns 27