30 YEARS IS JUST WAY TOO LONG

By STEVE KING

Another season is set to wind to a finish in about a week and a half and the Browns didn’t get to the Super Bowl again.

In fact, as you well know, they’ve never been to the Super Bowl.

Moreover, the Browns didn’t make it to even the AFC Championship Game – again. Tuesday a week ago, on Jan. 14, was the 30th anniversary of the Browns’ third – and last – conference title game appearance, 37-21 loss to the Denver Broncos at Mile High Stadium.

Thirty years.

Thirty years!

That’s too long. It’s way, way, too long, especially for a team that, back in the day in the tenure of the original franchise, used to get deep into the playoffs regularly, and it’s a drought that has to end.

As the Browns try to find their general manager, they need to keep all of this in mind. The task of the new head coach and GM won’t be to win eventually, but to win now and for the foreseeable future. Anything less than that is unacceptable, and the fans – and media – need to hold the Browns’ feet to the fire in that regard.

The Kansas City Chiefs are headed to the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years.

And their opponent will be the San Francisco 49ers, who, from 2015-18, were, in order, 5-11, 2-14, 6-10 and 4-12.

So, there is hope for the Browns. The 49ers’ run this year proves, once again, that a team can make a dramatic turnaround from one season to the next. The key is to have a big-time quarterback, which the Browns have, without a doubt, in Baker Mayfield, and the other is to have everyone on the same page, which the Browns did not have this season.

If the Browns are successful in getting their guys – from the GM all the way down to the 53rd man on the roster, to think team instead of personal ego, then anything can happen next fall. But, with some of their high-strung personalities, that might be a big “if.”