6. They can’t solve the whammy
For whatever reason, Denver has lived a charmed life when it comes to playing the Browns. Even before John Elway began his legend with a 98-yard drive on a cold January day in 1986 in a venerable old Stadium that took away a city’s Super Bowl dreams, the Broncos were a tough nut for the Browns to crack.
The Browns have only beaten Denver five times in their history, and none since 1990 – a 30-29 Monday Night win in Denver that is the only reason why a Browns fan should remember the name Jerry Kauric. In fact, three of those wins all came in the final minute, and the last two came as the result of last-play field goals.
This was arguably the Browns’ best chance to exorcise some of those AFC Championship Game demons since the franchise was reborn in 1999, and their best chance to finally get a ‘W’ over Manning. Instead, the Browns ripped defeat from the jaws of victory.
The optimism that surged following last week’s thrilling win over the Ravens is gone. Browns fans who believed, when the schedule came out in the summer, that this game would be a blowout loss do not rejoice in the moral victory that Sunday was. It’s a loss.
The Browns have four more games before their bye week, three of which on the road – at St. Louis next week against a Rams team fresh off a bye, hosting the 4-2 Arizona Cardinals, and then at the undefeated Cincinnati Bengals and at the house of horrors that is Heinz Field and those hated Pittsburgh Steelers. If the Browns are 2-8 heading into that bye week, you have to wonder if those on hot seats will be ejected.
And if that happens, Lord help us. It’s another wash-rinse-repeat cycle of perpetual mediocrity for the Cleveland Browns.
Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!
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