CLEVELAND — With a 34-20 victory over the Washington Football Team on Sunday, the Cleveland Browns reached a winning record for the first time since the 2014 season.
That means that for the first time in their careers in Cleveland, players such as Myles Garrett and Baker Mayfield can lay claim to a record above .500. The significance of Sunday's win vs. Washington wasn't lost on either former No. 1 overall pick, who each addressed the Browns bringing an end to what was by far the longest active drought without a winning record in the NFL.
“I made that very clear to the guys," said Garrett, who had a strip-sack in the fourth quarter to help seal the win vs. Washington. "We have a chance that we have not had in a long just to have a winning record, whether it is early or late. We have to take advantage of the opportunity. We have to start changing history here and our legacies right now. This is the opportunity to do it. We can be 1-0 this week, and that is what we are going to look forward to going into next week."
Added Mayfield: "First and foremost, this is a football town. They deserve to have a great franchise and a great team, but we are worried about right now. Like I said before the season started, it is about building that culture, bringing the right guys in and pushing this thing in the right direction, which is what we have been doing and we are trying to do. We have to build on this momentum and keep going one game at a time."
The last time the Browns had a record above .500 was going into Week 15 of the 2014 season when they were 7-6. After proceeding to lose its final three games of that campaign, Cleveland would win just four games from 2015-2017, including a 1-31 stretch from 2016-2017 and the second 0-16 season in NFL history in 2017.
From 2018-2019, the Browns improved 13-18-1, but never managed to make it past the .500 mark at any point in either season. At 2-1, the Browns are finally there, but despite the historical significance of Sunday's win, Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski opted to focus on the present instead of the past.
"We are just trying to go 1-0 every week," Stefanski said.