CLEVELAND — Folks, we can breathe: The Cleveland Browns are headed to the playoffs.
Kevin Stefanski's squad punched its ticket to the postseason with a 37-20 win over the New York Jets on "Thursday Night Football." With the victory, Cleveland can finish no worse than the No. 5 seed in the AFC as the top wild-card team.
But with just one game remaining, there is still potentially a lot to play for, such as the team's first division title in 34 years or even the top seed in the conference.
Currently, the 11-5 Browns trail the 12-3 Ravens in the AFC North, and if Baltimore wins just one of its last two games against the Miami Dolphins or Pittsburgh Steelers, then it would claim the division title. However, should they drop both of those contests and Cleveland win on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 18, both teams would be 12-5, but the Browns would technically finish in first place.
How, you may ask? Well, since the Browns and Ravens split their season series 1-1, the next tiebreaker would be records within the AFC North. Should Cleveland win in Cincy and Baltimore lose to Pittsburgh in the regular-season finale, the Browns would be 4-2 in the division compared to 3-3 for Baltimore.
It's complicated, but doable, especially with Baltimore playing an 11-4 Miami team this Sunday. That brings us to one last scenario...
Should all of the above results take place and the Dolphins additionally lose to the Buffalo Bills in Week 18, all three contenders would be knotted up at 12-5. But in this case, the Browns would lay claim to the No. 1 seed in the AFC (as well as a first-round bye) thanks to a 9-3 conference record, compared to 8-4 for Miami and 7-5 for Baltimore.
The last time the Browns sat atop the AFC? You'd have to go all the way back to 1986, when Bernie Kosar led the club to a 12-4 record and an appearance in the conference championship game. Cleveland won its most recent divisional title just three years later, finishing 9-6-1 in the old AFC Central.
Of course, should the Ravens beat the Dolphins this weekend and wrap up the North, the Browns would be locked into the 5-seed, making their final game against the Bengals essentially meaningless. Still, with all if the injuries that have plagued this team, Cleveland fans may not see that as the worst thing in the world.