Baker Mayfield, Cleveland Browns. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
The Cleveland Browns were the biggest disappointment of the 2019 NFL season. To avoid that in 2020, they need to make sure they win these five games.
Coming into last season, more people were picking the Cleveland Browns to win the AFC North for the first time in a long time.
Making moves to add Odell Beckham, Sheldon Richardson and Kareem Hunt to a team already on the way up. Baker Mayfield went from the surprise No. 1 overall pick to the future of the quarterback position. Myles Garrett was one of the best young defenders in the league.
Things seemed like they were finally going Cleveland’s way. It looks like the Browns were finally not going to be the laughingstock. That is, until once again they were the laughingstock.
The biggest moment people will take of the season is Garrett trying to take the head off of Pittsburgh Steelers backup quarterback Mason Rudolph on national television.
To be successful this season, the Browns need to avoid losses in spots where they should win. How the Browns teams of the past really broke fans’ hearts is losing the important games where they were favored. If win the games they were supposed to, they are at least going to contend at the end of the season.
Both: Cincinnati Bengals
Okay, this is two games. We’re cheating already.
However, these are must-win games. Last season, the Browns were still somehow in the playoff race all the way to Week 14, that is until losing their last three games. One of those losses was to the Cincinnati Bengals, who were atrocious.
The Bengals are likely going to start next season with Joe Burrow under center. Still, the Bengals aren’t supposed to be very good. They bring back A.J. Green after he missed all of the 2019 season thanks to an injury on a trash field in the preseason.
The Browns are going to need to own the state of Ohio in 2020 if they are going to finally be a playoff contender. If they want to actually make the playoffs for the first time since 2002, and just the second time since Bill Belichick was head coach. These are the two games on the schedule that are theoretically the easiest.
Burrow is an Ohio boy, and if he does go all in on playing for the Bengals, he will take some pride in taking out his cross-state rivals. This would be an end game for the Browns, showing they are just the same old Cleveland football team. The teams of the past would be the ones to split games with a terrible-on-paper Bengals team. Even with a hot shot rookie under center, the Browns need to prove they are the stronger team if contending is in the near future.