The opener! Yikes!

Let's get this out of the way quickly. Ever since returning to the National Football League in 1999, the Browns flat out stink in season-opening games. There is no other way to put it.

From the inaugural 43-0 thrashing by Pittsburgh in '99 to the fabled Dwayne Rudd helmet-throwing, victory-surrendering loss in 2002 to Kansas City to the frustratingly countless times ineptitude stood in the way of winning, they have been abysmally clueless on opening day.

Officially, they are 1-20-1 in lid-lifters. It got so bad, the 21-21 tie with the Steelers in 2018 was treated like a victory. The lone real victory in 2004, a 20-3 triumph over Baltimore at home, was orchestrated by Jeff Garcia. Remember him? Didn't think so. The Browns finished 4-12 that season.

Makes no difference where the opener is played. The Browns are 1-15-1 at home; winless on the road in the other five. In those five road losses, they have scored just 67 points and yielded 146, which does not portend a favorable result Sunday in Kansas City against the Chiefs, who have played in the last two Super Bowls.

Many coaches believe winning the first game of a season sets the tone emotionally and psychologically for the rest of the season. Kevin Stefanski blew that one to smithereens after the Baltimore Ravens ravaged the Browns, 38-6, last season in his head coaching debut, finishing 11-4 the rest of the way to the postseason.

The 22-17 loss to the Chiefs in the division round proved to the Browns that they belonged. At the same time it was a bitter pill to swallow, it served as a springboard to the 2021 season. And when the NFL schedule makers wanted to see those two teams meet again in the season opener, it also provided a revenge factor.

Fans remember how close the playoff game was from a scoreboard standpoint. Just a five-point difference. So close and yet so far, they thought. If Browns receiver Rashard Higgins hadn't fumbled the ball out of the end zone at the end of the first half, the game might have turned out differently.

We'll never know, of course. But here's a reminder that seems to have gotten lost in the remembrance of that game. It was almost totally in control of the Chiefs  in the first 30 minutes from just about every statistical standpoint. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes seemingly toyed with the Cleveland defense.

Four possessions yielded 277 total yards, two touchdowns, two field goals, a 19-3 halftime lead and 17 minutes and 43 seconds of ball control. Mahomes was 19 of 26 for 233 yards with one touchdown through the air and another on the ground. He was in firm control.

It wasn't until midway through the third quarter, when a hard tackle by Mack Wilson knocked the Chiefs quarterback out of the game, that the momentum changed a little. The Browns crept as close as the final score, but mustered little offense after that.

Both teams have since made radical changes to their units -- the Browns to their defense, the Chiefs to the offensive line. How they play Sunday could be a determining factor in the outcome.

The Chiefs almost totally redid their offensive front after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat up Mahomes and Co. in the Super Bowl. This will be their first time playing as a unit. 

The Browns' overhaul on defense is more radical with eight new faces starting on that side of the football with several more playing key roles. The new additions provide this unit with important ingredients seriously lacking last season -- speed and quickness.

As with most large changes in personnel, it takes time to jell. It might be somewhat more difficult for the Browns, though, with so many newcomers. It will take at least a game or two. But for certain, Joe Woods' defense is better equipped, relatively speaking, to handle the passing game than last season's crew.

The Browns need to pressure Mahomes, but they'll need to do it with the peerless Myles Garrett the lone returnee. Newcomers Jadeveon Clowney and Takkarist McKinley are not known as quarterback disturbers. And if they don't step up against the new Kansas City offensive line, the new secondary will have a busy afternoon with the likes of Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill and Mecole Hardman.

The Cleveland offense, meanwhile, will have an additional weapon this time against the Chiefs. Odell Beckham Jr., who tore an ACL midway through last season, is back and will start, but might be on a rep count by Stefanski to make certain he doesn't overuse one of his top receivers so soon after getting hurt. There's quality depth on the bench in Higgins, Donovan Peoples-Jones and rookie Anthony Schwartz.

Also look for Stefanski to use running backs Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt liberally to balance out the attack. The head coach made a mistake in the playoff game by virtually ignoring Hunt in the first half and giving the ex-Chief running back only seven touches in the second half. 

Since coming on board, General Manager Andrew Berry and Stefanski have purged the notion that the Browns are still the "same old Browns" of yesteryear. Gone is the losing attitude, replaced by a winning culture.

No longer are the Browns considered the laughingstock of the National Football League. They have turned just about everything around except this. Winning the season opener is one of the few items on the bucket list that hasn't been checked off.

A couple of aspects of this game point to a loss. Oh and five on the road to open a season. And the Browns seem to lose every time Jim Nantz and Tony Romo, CBS Television's top team, show up to do their games. 

For those reasons, and the fact the Chiefs are a better all-around team, I can't in all honesty pick them to win this game. The heart pleads yes; the head screams no. Against just about any other NFL team? Definitely. But the Chiefs are not any other team. Make it: Chiefs 31, Browns 20