During his prime as Cleveland’s sports talk host from 1972 to 1987, Pete Franklin would reach a point during the sports season where he would hold an on-air funeral marking the end of one of the city’s sports team’s playoff hopes.
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These are most associated in the minds of fans with the local baseball team, which was essentially eliminated at some point in August.
If Franklin were still alive, he would likely be holding one of those funerals today for the Cleveland Browns, who have managed to eliminate themselves from a playoff berth after just five games.
That is not 100 percent accurate, of course, as there are still 12 games left on the schedule and the Browns have yet to play a game within the AFC North Division. And no one within the division is running away with the title at the moment.
But if 10 wins is the bar to sniff a playoff spot, then the Browns need to go 9-3 the rest of the way just to hit double digits in wins. Anyone who has watched this team can see just how difficult a proposition that would be for the Browns, who are mired in a three-game losing streak after another depressing Sunday afternoon.
This team is broken on so many levels that one or two more wins might be a stretch, let alone winning enough to earn a playoff bid. The defense can’t tackle anyone, injuries continue to hit both sides of the ball, and the offense is operating at an expansion-era level of play.
Consider that Cleveland’s offense is currently:
- Averaging 3.8 yards per play, the lowest for any team since the Buffalo Bills in 2018
- Converting just 18.2 percent on third down
- Averaging almost nine yards to go on third downs
- Averaging 239.4 yards of offense per game
- Averaging 142.8 passing yards per game
- Scoring on just 23.7 percent of its drive
- Scoring just 14.2 points per game
That 3.8 yards per play is just a tick ahead of the 1999 expansion team that averaged 3.65 yards per play, and Cleveland’s streak of five consecutive games of scoring less than 20 points to open the season is the team’s longest since 1999. That season the Browns did not break 20 points in a game until Week 8, which is certainly within reach of this year’s squad.
Fair or not, and it is mostly fair at this point, much of the blame for the lack of production from the offense falls on the shoulders of Deshaun Watson.
According to The Athletic, Watson’s EPA per pass play of -0.302 has him sitting at No. 618 out of 621 qualifying quarterbacks who started the first five games of a season since 2000. Focusing on just Cleveland quarterbacks in that period, Watson is behind such luminaries as DeShone Kizer (-0.188 in 2017), Brandon Weeden (-0.076 in 2012), Charlie Frye (-0.066 in 2006), and Trent Dilfer (-0.018).
Even in his final season in Cleveland in 2021, when he was playing with an injured shoulder, Baker Mayfield managed to be at +0.102.
The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the Browns are passing more this season than in previous years. Through the first five games, the Browns are passing on 63 percent of early downs in the first 28 minutes of games, according to The Athletic, a 23 percent increase from what head coach Kevin Stefanski’s offenses averaged from 2018 to 2023.
Passing more would be fine if you are being successful, but that has not been the case. And it has left some to wonder just why the Browns have been passing so often so early in games, as an anonymous offensive coach from another team pondered to The Athletic:
“With this quarterback (Watson), you can do whatever you want, supposedly, so you try to, but it’s not in your DNA. It’s cool if it is working, but if it is not working, guys are standing around looking at each other saying, ‘Wait a minute, why are we doing this?’”
Watson is currently ranked at No. 30 in yards per attempt, 27th in completions percentage and passer rating, and 25th in passing yards.
It is simply not working, so where do the Browns go from here?
Then can hope that something starts to click starting this week against the Philadelphia Eagles. Then with divisional games against the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens, a three-game winning streak that includes a 2-0 mark in divisional play would get Cleveland back to .500 and in the hunt.
But has anyone seen anything from this team to believe that one win, let alone three, is remotely possible? It seems more likely that the struggles will continue and the Browns will hit the midway point of the season at 1-7.
If/when that happens, changes will likely be coming, with wide receiver Amari Cooper at the top of the list of players who may finish the season elsewhere. General manager Andrew Berry could also look to move a few veterans who are not in the team’s plans going forward.
Beyond that, the Browns may be in a position where they just have to play out the string and start planning for next year. Watson is not going to be benched, but unless he makes one of the greatest turnarounds in league history, this should be his last year as the full-time starter in Cleveland.
Watson’s play and contract make a trade a long shot, but Cleveland needs to have a new starting quarterback in place for 2025. Ideally, it would be someone on a rookie contract to help balance out the last two years of Watson’s deal. It may be difficult for some within the organization to accept it, but the Browns need to have Watson be the most expensive backup in league history for the next two years. (The fanbase would certainly not be opposed to that plan.)
Playing out the string with 12 games left on the schedule is going to be a difficult task week to week, but it is where the Browns realistically are at the moment.
Dread it. Run from it. But the team’s destiny arrives all the same. And it is time to cue the funeral music.
