After four weeks of the NFL season, the Cleveland Browns are sitting atop the AFC North at 3-1, and it’s safe to say no one saw that coming. The Browns won just five games last season, and they were also embarrassed in Week 1 of this year by the Jacksonville Jaguars, 34-10. However, Cleveland has since won three straight games.
Now, the question is: Can the Browns keep it up? Will Cleveland prove to be a team that just picked up some lucky wins early in the year or will the team really be a factor late into the season?
While time will ultimately tell, the Browns have displayed things on the field that make sustainability possible. There’s also one other factor that should help Cleveland stack wins.
As things currently stand, the Browns have a favorable schedule, and that should allow them to keep building momentum in the coming weeks.
Browns’ easy schedule gives them a chance to keep surprising the NFL
Entering the season, much was made about how Cleveland has the easiest strength of schedule, based on 2025 winning percentage. That fact was frequently disregarded since the Browns were expected to be a bottom-tier team themselves. Now that Cleveland has shown that it’s better than expected, that schedule is relevant again.
The Browns’ next game is against the New York Jets, who fell to 1-3 after losing to the Chicago Bears on Sunday. Of course, anything can happen in the NFL, but that’s a game Cleveland will actually be expected to win. That won’t be the case in Week 6, when the Browns host the 3-1 Baltimore Ravens. But, again, anything could happen, and the Ravens did lose Lamar Jackson to an ankle injury in Week 4.
After Baltimore, though, the Browns travel to play the 0-4 Tennessee Titans. Let’s say Cleveland goes 2-1 over that three-game stretch, with wins against New York and Tennessee. The Browns would be sitting at 5-2 after seven weeks.
Of course, the games have to be played, and things could drastically change by the week, but the schedule doesn’t even get much harder after that. Of Cleveland’s 13 remaining games, only four are against teams that currently have a winning record. Those games are against the Ravens twice, the 3-1 Las Vegas Raiders, and the 3-1 New York Giants.
In the nine other remaining games, the Browns will face two teams that are winless after four weeks, two teams that have one win after four games, and five games against opponents that are 2-2 after Week 4.
This only matters if Cleveland wins the games it’s supposed to win, and the fact that the Browns are 3-1 is proof that the team that’s supposed to win doesn’t always get the job done.
Either way, Cleveland’s early success gives the Browns a chance to take advantage of a favorable schedule and make some noise in the second half of the season.
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