Daily Dawg Tags: Browns down to final chances to avoid 0-16

The Cleveland Browns are running low on time in their attempt to avoid finishing the year at 0-16. The final four games reveal some potential pitfalls.

The Cleveland Browns are down to their final four chances.

Just four games remain in the 2017 regular season. Just four opportunities to pick up a win and avoid becoming just the second team in NFL history to go 0-16 on the season.

Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Chargers solidified head coach Hue Jackson’s standing as the worst coach in NFL history as the defeat dropped his record with the Browns to 1-27. The broke the previous record for futility that was set 40 years ago by head coach John McKay with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who lost the first 26 games of their existence before rallying to win the final two games of the 1977 season.

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With one record firmly in hand, can Jackson lead the Browns to a mark only matched by the 2008 Detroit Lions? Well, a quick run through the final four games on the schedule show that 0-16 is a real possibility.

First up are the Green Bay Packers this Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium.

The Packers have struggled without quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but are coming off an overtime win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They also gave the Pittsburgh Steelers all they could handle the prior week before falling on a game-ending field goal. The Browns have also not beaten the Packers at home since 1992.

The following week brings the Baltimore Ravens to town for the home finale. Baltimore will be coming off a Sunday night game against Pittsburgh, so that could be a plus in the Browns favor. But Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is 16-2 in his career against the Browns, so that could outweigh any fatigue from the game with the Steelers.

The Browns close out the season with consecutive road games, starting in Chicago where the Browns have not beaten the Bears since 1969. The game falls on Christmas Eve, which is a special time for Jackson as his last two career wins have come on Dec. 24. Of course, in a battle of bad rookie quarterbacks, would it really come as a surprise if Chicago’s Mitchell Trubisky comes out on top?

The season will mercifully come to a close on New Year’s Eve as the Browns make their annual trip to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers.  Cleveland last won in Pittsburgh against the Steelers in 2003. And with it being the season finale, we all know what comes next.

When the regular season started back in September it seemed impossible to think the Browns would go through the full slate of games without a win. But as the weeks have rolled along it has seemed more plausible.

Four games are left in the season, and likely in the tenure of Jackson as the team’s head coach.

Can the Browns pull off one final surprise before everything is said and done?

Cleveland Browns news:

Josh Gordon can’t do it all on his own

Cleveland Browns fans were given a reason to watch on Sunday when Josh Gordon made his return to the field for his first game in three years. It’s too bad he couldn’t come back to a better team.

Browns looking good for the 2018 NFL Draft

The Cleveland Browns are just four weeks and a little bit of luck away from owning the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft.

Hue Jackson will talk to the NFL about headset issues (cleveland.com)

"Browns coach Hue Jackson was frustrated by a malfunctioning headset at StubHub Center during Sunday’s 19-10 loss to the Chargers, and indicated the  Browns are not the first team to experience technical difficulties at the soccer stadium."

NFL news:

Clinton Portis and Santana Moss lost more than a friend when Sean Taylor died (Washington Post)

"The 10th anniversary of Sean Taylor’s death brought a wave of cautiously hopeful stories about his legacy — stories about how many younger defensive backs now model themselves after Taylor’s style of play, even if they lack his physical talents. That’s a sunny way of looking at the Taylor tragedy from a decade’s distance. The immediate legacy for some of Taylor’s peers, though, was considerably different: less removed, far more intense, and still harrowing to hear."

Browns team physician says Ryan Shazier’s injury ‘not rare’ in football (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

"The injury that Ryan Shazier’s teammates said he suffered in Monday’s game — a spinal cord concussion — can have a wide range of recovery time depending on the severity of the injury, according to one NFL team physician, who has dealt with similar injuries."

John Elway won’t make staff changes in Denver during the season (Denver Post)

"Vance Joseph isn’t going anywhere yet. Broncos general manager and president of football operations John Elway said definitively Tuesday that he will not make any coaching changes during his team’s final four weeks of the season."