Entire AFC North was terrible, not just Cleveland Browns

The Browns were terrible versus New England, but the rest of the AFC North has been awful lately, also. 

If you’re depressed about your Cleveland Browns, you can walk into a sports pub in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, or Cincinnati and find plenty of company for your misery. Which is the worst team in the AFC North?

It’s hard to choose, but here are your choices.

One team lost to the Patriots, 45-7. It was a terrible butt-kicking from a team coached by the greatest coach in history, with the possible exception of Paul Brown. This fan kind of told you it might be coming, and that the Patriots, not the Bills, should have been favored to win the AFC East.

But 35 points is difficult to stomach, especially because the defense had generally been the strength of the team, and they just rolled over and died, giving up three drives of more than 90 yards. That was just a lack of effort. It looked like the 2017 team, frankly. But the Patriots are a good team, and the kid quarterback is a good one.

How much more impressive were the Baltimore Ravens, scoring the same number of points as the Browns, and giving up 22 to the Miami Dolphins, who are not a good team? The Dolphins had to use their second-string quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa, who seems to be pretty much unloved even by his own coaching staff and front office.

The Ravens are just too thin because of injuries, and this space has been predicting that their early-season success would be difficult to sustain. They have just barely escaped against bad teams, and now the bad teams are beating them. Does a 22-10 loss to the dysfunctional Miami Dolphins behind their backup quarterback truly impress you?

Or what about the Steelers, who tied the historically inept Detroit Lions? Their coach, Dan Campbell tells them to bite the kneecaps of their opponents. Well, at least he has a clear plan.

Do you want to blame it on backup quarterback Mason Rudolph, who had to sub for Covid-afflicted Ben Roethlisberger? Truthfully, we had no idea Covid-19 afflicted grizzly bears, but apparently, it does. Six weeks ago Steelers fans were clamoring for Rudolph to replace Gentle Ben.

Now it’s the excuse for achieving parity with the Detroit Lions. Does a 16-16 tie impress you with the Steelers? Their fan base is rather unhappy also.

Or how about them Bengals? Who Dey did not play in Week 10 since they were on a bye, so they had by far the best week. But the last time they played, they lost to the Cleveland Browns, 41-16.

They got thumped almost as badly as the Browns got beat by the Patriots, and plus it was a division game in The Jungle. Now, how confident should Bengals fans be that they are that much better than the Browns after the Bengals just lost to them by 25 points?

No, to get anywhere in the playoffs, someone has to win the AFC North and possibly a Wild Card or two. We have to compare the Browns to the other teams in the Division, and for whatever reason, the entire Division has played like **** (insert your favorite descriptor here; mine will not make it past editorial review) recently. They were dominant for the first two months of the season but they all fell to earth together.

Nevertheless, some team is going to get hot and win division games. Why not the Browns? There is no dominant team in the AFC North, so it could be the Browns as easily as one of the other three. It’s all laid out in front of them.

Win the next game and you’re in it, guys.