This is the most incredible season — in a good way, in a great way, in a tremendous way — in Browns history, that of not just the current franchise but of the original one as well, a total of 75 seasons.
There, I said it.
And I mean it.
Indeed, when you get right down it, there is really no question at all about it.
It was here, on brownsdailydose.com, that this season was first compared to 1988. That season was when the Browns lost their starting quarterback to injury five different times. Don Strock, who himself was eventually lost to injury as well the following week in the playoff game against the Houston Oilers, became a forever Browns hero when, after being coaxed out of retirement following a long career at the ripe young age of 38, he got the club into the postseason by leading it to a 28-23 comeback victory over the Oilers in the regular-season finale on Dec. 18 at Cleveland Stafium.
The situation seemed hopeless, with the Browns falling behind 23-7 with 9:32 left in the third quarter, before he engineered three unanswered touchdown drives for the five-point win. Two of those scores were on his passes, coming in the fourth quarter as the team scored 14 unanswered points. He ended up completing 25-of-42 passes for 326 yards and a 70.1 rating after a terrible start beset by incompletions, two interceptions, one of which was returned 36 yards for a touchdown, and two of his own fumbles. It was a turnaround you had to see to believe, for the Browns, especially offensively, seemed lifeless when down by 16 points, and so did the sellout crowd, on a miserably cold, snowy day.
On Sunday (which was Dec. 17), against the Chicago Bears before a sellout crowd on a rainy, sloppy day — miserable in its own right — at Cleveland Browns Stadium, well-tested veteran Joe Flacco, the Don Strock of this generation (he is about the same age as Strock was when he arrived) as he was signed off the street when it appeared he might be headed to retirement, struggled early and often and so did the Browns in falling behind 17-7 with 7:07 in a game they needed to win to maintain a one-game lead in the race to be the top-seeded wild-card team. He fumbled once and had an interception returned 45 yards for a touchdown It looked to be a hopeless situation. The Browns offense seemed lifeless, and so was the crowd.
But then, just as Strock did almost exactly 35 years before on the same footprint, Flacco got his mojo going, and with it the offense as well. He directed the Browns on three scoring drives, producing a touchdown (on his 51-yard pass to wide receiver Amari Cooper) and two Dustin Hopkins field goals, including the 34-yard game-winner with 32 seconds left, as the club outscored the Bears 13-0 in the fourth quarter en route beating them 20-17.
You had to see it to believe it.
Flacco finished 28-of-44 passing for 374 yards, one of the biggest totals in Browns history, two touchdowns and three interceptions for a 77.3 rating. He also fumbled once.
The games and the performances by the quarterbacks seem almost identical. So, then, why is 2023 the most incredible — in a positive way — Browns season ever, even more so than 1988, which was extremely incredible in its own right?
Stay tuned.
Steve King
