Daily Dawg Tags: It’s really simple – just win

The Cleveland Browns have put their fans through a lot since 1999. It is now time for the team to start repaying that loyalty by actually winning.

The sun came up across Northeast Ohio this morning.

The temperature is back to a point that is fit for humans and people are going about their lives.

And the Cleveland Browns are still, well, the Cleveland Browns.

With all the hullabaloo over the weekend about Saturday’s Perfect Season Parade it is easy to forget that the event helped a lot of people. It helped those people who turn to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank for a meal, and it helped a portion of Browns Nation a few hours to vent their frustration about their favorite team.

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What it didn’t do is change the fortunes of the franchise, either in the short-term or the long-term.

This is still a franchise where owner Jimmy Haslam talks about wanting to improve the team, then willingly brings back a head coach who is 1-31 in his two seasons with the Browns, only the worst two-year mark in NFL history.

The event also did not have an impact on the Browns ability to persuade players to come to Cleveland in free agency. One of the more puzzling arguments we came across in opposition to the parade was that no one will want to sign with the Browns because their fans had the nerve to voice their displeasure at ownership.

The reality, of course, is that players will sign with whichever team their agent steers them toward. And agents will have their players sign with the team that offers the most favorable terms and conditions because an agent gets a percentage of that new contract.

The idea that players will avoid Cleveland because of a fan protest also presumes that no one around the league is aware that the Browns were 0-16 this past season, or that they willingly employ the worst head coach in the league and are run by one of the worst owners in Cleveland sports history.

That may have been true if it was 1957, but we’re fairly confident in believing that players and agents around the league knew of the situation in Cleveland long before Saturday’s parade stepped off.

There is one simple way for the Browns to fix everything of course, and that is too simply start winning. We’ve reached the point under the Haslams where talking about getting better is just so much noise — it’s time for the Browns to start actually getting better.

One last thought about the events of Saturday afternoon before we move on. Browns fans have all been betrayed for their loyalty to the team. Week after week, and year after year, the Browns have failed to repay that loyalty. Hopefully that came to a head on Saturday and we can focus on the dawning of a new era for the Browns.

Because at the end of the day, we are all Browns fans and want the same thing: a team that we can be proud of and a team that wins. We are all in this together and the only way we are going to make it to a better day is if we stay together.

Cleveland Browns news:

Browns fans should be proud of the parade

The Cleveland Browns have the best fans in the NFL, a fact that was on display Saturday outside of FirstEnergy Stadium.

Browns tight ends: Stay or go in 2018?

The Cleveland Browns have several roster decisions to make for 2018, but tight end may be one position that is in good hands.

Browns have quarterback options this offseason

The Cleveland Browns have three distinctly different scenarios to follow this offseason when it comes to the quarterback position. Each present unique opportunities and timelines for Hue Jackson, John Dorsey and the Browns as an organization.

Browns running backs: Stay or go in 2018?

The Cleveland Browns have several roster decisions to make for 2018, including what to do about the primary running back position.

Browns plan to go after Green Bay’s Eliot Wolf (Packers Wire)

"The Green Bay Packers’ decision to promote Brian Gutekunst to general manager could be just the opening John Dorsey and the Cleveland Browns need to go after another one of the team’s top personnel executives."

Did Jimmy Garoppolo affect Browns front office change? (ESPN)

"The saga of Jimmy Garoppolo might tell more about the Cleveland Browns than first indicated. As the Browns continue to search for a quarterback, the San Francisco 49ers are gushing over the fact that they have him. His late-season play changed everything about a struggling team, and showed the importance of finding the right quarterback."

NFL news:

Titans owner backs head coach Mike Mularkey (Titans Online)

"Tennessee Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk backed head coach Mike Mularkey on Sunday, one day after the team’s 22-21 playoff game win over the Kansas City Chiefs."

Was playoff loss Alex Smith’s last game with the Chiefs? (Kansas City Star)

"If this was Alex Smith’s last stand with the Kansas City Chiefs, it will have ended with perhaps his most painful loss. The Chiefs went scoreless in the second half of their 22-21 defeat to the Tennessee Titans in the Wild Card playoff round on Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium."

Jared Goff not up to the playoff challenge (Los Angeles Times)

"The Rams’ presence in these playoffs was a testament to the development of Jared Goff. The game itself became a reminder of how far he still has to go. The second-year quarterback and the league-leading offense under his command vanished Saturday night, managing only a touchdown and two field goals in a 26-13 defeat to the Atlanta Falcons at the Coliseum that ended their season."

How young will the Bears go with their next head coach? (Chicago Sun Times)

"John Fox was three weeks away from his 60th birthday when the Bears paired him with Ryan Pace, the youngest general manager in the NFL, in 2015. Now Pace hit the road this past week to seek his next head coach. All six candidates he has interviewed have been younger than Fox. The last two he met with — including Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy on Sunday — are younger than Pace himself."