Cleveland Browns: 3 reasons to believe 2019 will be their year
By Randy Gurzi
For every NFL team that fails to win the Super Bowl, the cliche of ‘maybe next year’ rings true. With the Cleveland Browns, there are reasons to believe that finally
Every year, 31 NFL teams fall short of their ultimate goal — winning the Super Bowl. For each of these fan bases, things immediately turn to how next year can be better. No fan base understand the concept of “maybe next year” quite like the Cleveland Browns faithful do.
Since returning to the NFL in 1999, the Browns have had two winning seasons and only one playoff appearance. They’ve had numerous coaching changes and an unbelievable number of starting quarterbacks, all of which offered more hope of a better “next year.”
Now again after going 7-8-1 in 2018, fans are looking forward to what’s next for the Browns. However, this time it feels different. It seems like they’re finally close to turning a corner and that 2019 could be their year.
Here, we look at three reasons to believe that could very well be the case — starting with the belief they have in their new head coach.
3. Freddie Kitchens and his ego
One problem many head coaches have is their ego. The thing that makes them great can also hurt them. Take Todd Haley as an example. He’s had great success as an offensive play caller but failed miserably in Cleveland.
The problem was he didn’t change his system. He believed his plays were what worked and figured it was better to force the players to adapt to him than vice versa.
After he was fired, Freddie Kitchens took over the offensive coordinator role. He adjusted the blocking scheme to make the offensive line better and even had a sit down with Baker Mayfield to ask the quarterback which plays he was most comfortable running.
The results spoke for themselves and landed Kitchens the job as the head coach. Now going forward, we can believe that this coach won’t let his ego get in the way of the franchise’s success. He’s shown he will adapt to what his guys can do, rather than stay married to a scheme for the sake of being right.