CLEVELAND, OH — Thanks to their 48-37 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, which ended decades of anguish and frustration at the hands of the hated Black and Gold, the Browns being in the playoffs is a new kinda thing that’s cool and hip.
And for a new generation of fans, it’s both a surreal and kinda cool feeling, that many don’t quite know how to express and celebrate.
Normally, at the end of a usually dreadful and uneventful season, Browns fans are already resigned to doom-scrolling NFL mock draft sites, wondering, debating and arguing over who the next Browns QB—I.e. sacrificial lamb—out to be, and who will be the next unlucky soul tempted by Jimmy and Dee Haslam’s millions to try and put out our brown and orange colored football-playing dumpster fire.
Let’s be real here.
We in Cleveland are SO used to losing and settling for mediocrity that even when we accidentally stumble and fall upwards—2002 and 2007–we don’t quite know how to handle ourselves as a fan base.
We are so using to losing and preparing ourselves for the NFL Draft this time of year that it’s kinda become a rite of passage.
Perhaps it’s the shock of finally seeing what a team with a real head coach in Kevin Stefanski get the most out of his players in knowing how to coach and how to lead men.
Perhaps it’s foreign to long-suffering and conditionally jaded Browns fans to accept the likes of Hue Jackson and his “Ill have to see the tape” sound bites and Freddie Kitchens’ deep aw-shucks Alabama drawl and his now legendary “if you ain’t wearing Brown and orange, you don’t matter” quotes that endeared both men to fans for very different reasons.
It’s still taking a certain element of fans time to accept Baker Mayfield as the franchise’s savior, but the Catholic alter boy in me will forgive their trepasses against him if they can finally admit that they were wrong and that Cleveland doesn’t have to worry about drafting QB No. 29 for a very long time.
For he will lead us into the temptation of a Super Bowl and all the glory of resurrecting a proud and storied franchise back to it’s rightful place and provide us our daily bread of victory on Sunday’s.
For once, we don’t have to worry or argue about players drafted being a bust, our offensive line not being able to protect our QB or secretly dread watching Pittsburgh hoist a Lombardi from the couch.
After decades of losing and being in the short end, it’s now joyous and funny to hear opposing players be salty and sulk in losing to our team.
Ain’t that right? MapleTron and JuJu?
As the Browns prepare to head to the heart of Chiefs Kingdom to face Patrick Mahomes and the defending Super Bowl champions, fans can finally sit back and enjoy a team built to win, last and most sweetest of all, beat that team from the Steel City and become a real force in the AFC North for years to come.
Hallelujah!
DawgFather Out!