Cleveland Browns: Surprises and Disappointments at the Midseason point

Three surprise and disappointments from the first eight games

The Cleveland Browns head into their by week with a record of 5-3, the team’s best start since 2014. After an unprecedented (groan) offseason, and considering the Browns disastrous performance in 2019, holding the seventh and final wild card spot at the midseason point should be viewed as a major accomplishment.

There has been plenty of good and bad through eight games, with the bad stemming in part from a rash of injuries — in addition to multiple players, including Baker Mayfield, Jarvis Landry, and Myles Garrett dealing with nagging issues, Nick Chubb, Odell Beckham Jr. Austin Hooper, Wyatt Teller, Grant Delpit, Kevin Johnson, and Greedy Williams have all either missed significant time this season or are on injured reserve.

It’s not been an easy season for the Browns, but here they sit, with a playoff berth entirely within their grasp. They’ve had some impressive victories and some demoralizing defeats. Overall, they look like a good team headed in the right direction that isn’t ready to contend with the heavyweights. And that’s okay. Rome wasn’t built in a day (groan again), and while the Browns have some good pieces, they are still a ways away from being a Super Bowl contender. For now, a wild card spot will just have to do. Depressing, I know.

The team needed the bye week in the worst way, and now they’ll have two weeks to heal up and prepare for the Houston Texans.

In the meantime, it’s worth taking a look back at the first half of the 2020 campaign to highlight some surprises and disappointments so far.