Cleveland Browns: 5 reasons 2020 season is a success, playoffs or not
By Sam Penix
2. Rebounding from 2019
It certainly seemed like the Browns were beginning to turn things around in 2018, as the team finished 7-8-1 and was in the playoff race late into the season. An eventful offseason and plenty of outside attention (which was invited by the players) led to Super Bowl talk, and then Week 1 happened, and the reality checks were cashed. It turns out that Cleveland wasn’t actually a very good team.
Rather, they were a collection of big names who were very poorly coached and soundly defeated by the better teams they played. The writing was on the wall for that regime before the season ended, and while the thought of firing John Dorsey may have been blasphemy to some just a few months before, that’s what happened.
With Mayfield’s regression at the forefront, there weren’t a ton of reasons to be super positive about the 2020 season, especially with the pandemic virtually eliminating the offseason. But the turnaround did happen, and Cleveland improved their record by at least four games this year. 8-8 would have been a step in the right direction, but 10-5 with a chance to make the playoffs? That’s more than most were expecting.