CLEVELAND — Be honest. Some of you fell for it, didn’t you? Last week when the Browns forgot that they were the Browns for a few hours with a stunning win over Baltimore you allowed yourself to think that it might mean more than it did.
Sure, we were 2-6, you told yourself, but those losses were wracked up by a totally different team that was clearly being held back by shaky quarterback play and poor leadership.
But that issue was instantly resolved when Watson was shut down for the season and replaced by our salvation, the third string journeyman QB on a one-year contract.
And in his starting debut against Baltimore, Jameis Winston shined against the NFL’s worst passing defense and led us to a thrilling victory.
Consequently, as part of a long-standing Cleveland tradition, Many Browns fans became overly-excited by an anomalous, non-representative win and deluded themselves into believing that what looked like a lost season might just be salvaged, with some Sweet Summer Children even going so far as to suggest that reaching the playoffs was still a non-laughable concept.
And then we got profoundly thrashed by the Chargers yesterday and everyone returned to reality.
Now, I did not number among the fanciful hopefuls this time around who believed the Baltimore win might be a turning point, though I certainly don’t judge or begrudge those who did express openminded-ness to a potential miraculous Browns turnaround.
And just because I didn’t happen to get caught up in the fantastical daydreaming this time, I’m certainly no stranger to the phenomenon.
For example, when the Browns drafted Brandon Weeden back in 2012 I was able to convince myself that taking a 28 year old quarterback in the first round was actually a SMART decision, because of the maturity he could bring to the huddle. So I am by no means immune to deluding myself when it comes to this football team.
In fact, if I had a nickel for every time over the past 25 years that I’ve been able to convince myself, against all logic, that The Browns had turned a corner and were about to suddenly stop being the Browns for whatever reason, I could personally finance a domed stadium in Brook Park.
But they didn’t get me this time. And based on my current vibe about this organization, it’s going to take a little more than a fluke win in a lost season to get me back on board the positive delusion train on which I have personally racked up countless miles.
But I genuinely look forward to returning. I WANT to be capable of being irrationally optimistic about my football team again. But in order to get back there, I’d have to care. And that’s something I can’t quite muster right now. Why?
Because I’m too busy caring about the hottest team in the NBA, your undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers!
Evan Mobley has been unleashed! Kenny Atkinson is a better coach than Red Auerbach! And there’s a decent chance that this franchise might never lose another game!
See, now THERE is a team currently worth being delusional about.
Hang in there, Browns fans. And let’s go CAVALIERS!