03-07-2018, 12:45 PM
(03-06-2018, 01:11 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Gotta make it there first to win, and the Browns have a lot of work to do to on that front. Hence the Bengals odds of winning one first are far better. And we were damn close to winning our last playoff game.
True, but I had more faith in this notion before we had the back-to-back losing seasons. Again, what really drove home the idea that our slow approach isn't bearing fruit is that we still haven't won a playoff game and the Jaguars, who hadn't had a winning season in a decade and were wasting time with at least one total bust top 10 QB pick while we were having our 5-time playoff bound golden age, completely leapfrogged us and beat the Steelers and won multiple playoff games.
I'm not saying we have to completely retool the franchise, but we've seen enough franchises rebuild and win in the playoffs to take the luster off our slow and steady approach. Other teams who were worse than us during our nice stretch from 2011-2015 have won in the playoffs before we did, so the Browns...maybe. Then again, they're the Browns so I can never see them winning, either.
So a quick glance of teams that were worse than us at some point between 2011-2015 but ended up winning a playoff game or more before we us:
Steelers
Ravens
Texans
Colts
Jaguars
Titans
Cheifs
Broncos
Cowboys
Eagles
Packers
Vikings
Falcons
Panthers
Saints
Seahawks
Cardinals
Rams
So could the Browns leap over us and find post-season success sooner than we have despite our better record of winning in the regular season and making the playoffs? Probably not, but most of the other teams have. And this list doesn't include the Jets or Giants or 49ers who were in the AFC Championship game, in the SB, and winning the SB during or the year before our rebirth.