CLEVELAND — Watch Jay and Tyler Carey's full conversation in the player above.
The Cleveland Browns didn't play on Sunday. But that didn't stop many of the team's fans, media and general followers from being active on social media.
And with the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams clinching trips to Super Bowl LVI, there was plenty to talk about, with both teams possessing undeniable connections to Cleveland.
As far as Cincinnati is concerned, the Bengals have been one of the Browns' chief rivals since first entering the NFL in 1970. When it comes to Los Angeles, one of the Rams' most prominent players is Odell Beckham Jr., who was notoriously released by Cleveland in controversial fashion earlier this season.
3News' Jay Crawford was among the voices on social media to bemoan the conundrum that this year's Super Bowl matchup is for Browns fans.
"Because the football gods haven’t punished the Browns enough, we get the Bengals and Beckham in the Super Bowl," Crawford tweeted.
Later, in a conversation with WKYC.com's Tyler Carey, Crawford admitted it would personally be worse for him to see the Bengals win it all. He also lamented the success of Cincinnati, the New England Patriots, and Baltimore Ravens since former Browns owner Art Modell not only fired both Paul Brown and Bill Belichick but moved the team away altogether.
"I am sorry, football gods, for the transgressions of our past owner!" Jay passionately declared. "Please, football gods, if you have a shred — just a shred — of sympathy, please remove this curse and put our Cleveland Browns in a Super Bowl soon, because I'm running out of time!"
Yet despite the obvious frustration and a disappointing 8-9 season, Jay doesn't feel like the Browns are that far away. On the contrary, if the Bengals can get to a Super Bowl just two years after winning only two games, why not us?
"We punked the Bengals in their place, full-health," Jay noted, referring to Cleveland's 41-16 win back in Week 9. "I'm predicting that Baker [Mayfield]'s going to have a huge bounce-back year next year. I am chalking up 80% of his bad play last year to physical injuries; I'm giving the other 20% to an injured psyche from someone who was continually trying to out-perform what his body told him he was able to do."
As far as Jay's original point, other Browns fans — and even fans of other teams — echoed a similar sentiment, touting this year's Super Bowl as a no-win situation for Cleveland.
Others, meanwhile, opted to take a more OBJ-specific approach, comparing Beckham's success in Los Angeles to his struggles in Cleveland. While some Browns fans claimed that the three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver was holding Cleveland's offense back, his performance vs. the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday seemed to indicate otherwise, as he caught nine passes for 113 yads in the Rams' 20-17 victory.
Among those to criticize Cleveland in the wake up Beckham's big game was Hall of Fame wide receiver Terrell Owens, who took to Twitter to state:
"Congratulations to the @Bengals and @RamsNFL but EXTREMELY HAPPY for @obj!!!" Owens wrote. "@Browns, @bakermayfield totally screwed that situation up!! In the words of @KendrickPerkins… #CarryTheHellOn"
Owens wasn't the only one to blame the Browns on Sunday.