3 things that must change for the Cleveland Browns to contend in 2021

Three things that need to change if the Cleveland Browns wish to win the Super Bowl in 2021

The Cleveland Browns had a great 2020 season, but it wasn’t quite good enough. In order to win a Super Bowl, changes must be made. Here are three key areas that need to improve if the ultimate goal is to be achieved.

3. The defense must step up

The defense has the talent, at least on paper, to be the best in the league. But it doesn’t have to be anywhere close to dominant, it just has to be good.

Good enough to where fans aren’t worried when the team has a 38-7 lead over the Tennessee Titans or is winning 35-7 against the Pittsburgh Steelers with 30 seconds left in the first quarter. Good enough to where Chad Henne isn’t sealing a playoff game.

Both the Tennessee and Pittsburgh games ended up being much, much closer than they should have because defensive coordinator Joe Woods’ hands were tied. He knew he didn’t have the talent to stop the opponent from scoring.

So as soon as the Browns got out to those massive leads, he immediately switched to prevent schemes, giving teams an easy path to the end zone. This was the best course of action for Cleveland; if the opponent was going to score (and they were), the Browns might as well for them to take 10 players to do it rather than three or four.

Cleveland’s offense will carry them to victory. The defense’s job is to make sure the offense doesn’t have to put up 40 points per game in order to win. With all the improvements made to the unit over the offseason, plus the massive amount of talent returning from injury, they should be able to get the job done. But paper wins and actual wins are two very different things.