CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns did not have a winning record during the 2018 season and failed to qualify for the postseason for a league-worst 16th straight year, but there is plenty of optimism surrounding the team just 14 months removed from their winless year in 2017.
Although the Browns were 7-8-1, they are considered a team on the rise that could not only finish with a winning record, but also, get to the postseason and make some noise.
“That should be the expectation,” quarterback Baker Mayfield said after winning the Professional Athlete of the Year Award at the 19th Greater Cleveland Sports Awards ceremony at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel last week.
“It shouldn’t be the whole town goes crazy over one win on a Thursday night. That should be the expectation that we need to be competing in the playoffs every year. That’s the fun part about it. The fans can get really excited, but we set our own expectations in the building, and I’ve always believed that. You have to live up to your own standard. You set that and live that every day.”
The Browns were anything but a finished product when new coach Freddie Kitchens took over the play-calling duties on Monday, October 29, hours after former coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley were dismissed to clean up “internal discord.”
At 2-5-1 following a 33-18 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh on October 28 and in the middle of the unprecedented midseason coaching upheaval with eight games left to play, the 2018 Browns did not look like a team capable of the greatest year-to-year turnaround in franchise history.
But a 5-3 record over the second half of the season and a three-game winning streak in December secured the Browns’ greatest turnaround in team history, as they finished plus-7.5 in wins over the winless 2017 campaign.
Although the Browns made the greatest year-to-year improvement in franchise history, that is far from the ultimate goal for the organization.
“If they weren’t excited, I think they’d be kind of blind to what’s going on,” Mayfield said. “The excitement’s real, and it should be justified.
“That’s our goal, to set our expectations and live up to that hype, but it’s our own hype that we’re building up. We’ve kind of showed what we can do at times, but we need to be more consistent and we need to win more games. Just plain and simple to be competing for the playoffs and the division every year.”
Mayfield threw more touchdowns passes than any other rookie in the 99-year history of the NFL.
Mayfield completed 310 of his 486 attempts (63.8 percent) for 3,725 yards and the 27 touchdowns against 14 interceptions after taking over the first-team offense in the second quarter of a Week 3 win over the New York Jets at FirstEnergy Stadium.
“Build on what we had,” Mayfield said. “We had somewhat of a foundation, but to be able to take that next step and do that, to realize what we were doing well, to capitalize on it and grow in that, trust the system, trust your coaching and just make the plays and be comfortable in it.
“I think we’ve kind of knocked off the reputation of the Cleveland Browns. Now, you’ve got to have that mentality of ‘We want to be the best,’ and that’s how you handle every day.”
