How important is it for NFL teams to win in the preseason?
In almost every case, not very much at all, really, which is hardly a surprise.
Take the Browns, for instance.
In 1954, they finished just 2-3 in the preseason but won the NFL championship by blasting the Detroit Lions 56-10.
In 1955, they finished just 1-5 in the preseason, losing even to the College All-Stars, but won the league title by blasting the Los Angeles Rams 38-14.
In 1957, they finished just 2-4 in the preseason but made it to the league championship game.
In 1960, they finished 5-1 in the preseason and beat their arch nemesis at the time, the Detroit Lions, twice, something they had never done before and have never done since, but they didn’t even win the Eastern Conference title.
In 1962, they finished 5-0, one of just three times they’ve gone undefeated in the preseason since they entered the NFL in 1950, but they didn’t even make it to the league championship game, ending just 7-6-1. It was head coach Paul Brown’s second-worst record in 17 seasons at Cleveland and was the final nail in the coffin in his getting fired by owner Art Modell after the season.
In 1967, they lost their first five games and finished just 1-5 in the preseason, but got to within a victory of making it to the NFL title contest.
In 1968, they finished just 2-3 in the preseason but made it to the NFL Championship Game.
In 1971, they lost their first four games and finished just 1-5 in the preseason, but won their first AFC Central title.
In 1972, they recorded what is now one of just two winless preseasons in team history, finishing 0-6, but still earned the lone wild-card spot in the AFC playoffs.
In 1980, they finished just 1-3 in the preseason, dropping their opener 42-0 for the worst shutout preseason defeat in team history, but went on to win the AFC Central crown.
In 1989, they finished just 1-4 in the preseason but went on to make it to the AFC Championship Game.
In 2004, they finished 3-1 in the preseason but suffered through a nine-game losing streak and went just 4-12, causing head coach Butch Davis to resign in disgrace with five contests left.
In 2005, they finished 3-1 for the second straight preseason but went 6-10.
And finally, in 2013, they finished 3-1 but lost their last seven and 10 of their final 11 to go 4-12, causing local favorite Rob Chudzinski to get fired less than a year after being hired as head coach.
So there you have it, 14 different examples of the Browns doing one thing in the preseason but then doing just the opposite once the regular season began.
But in each of the occasions when they struggled in the preseason and then turned it completely around in the regular season, the Browns had talented, veteran teams that were expected to do well. Thus, in most cases, there was no great hue or cry when the preseason blew up in their faces. The thought was that these were merely practice games – which they are, of course – and the Browns were using them to get ready for the regular season. Winning really didn’t matter.
Now we to come to this season – tonight at 8, more specifically – as the 0-2 Browns try to get into the win column when they meet the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium in a nationally-televised game.
When asked the other day what he wanted to get out of tonight’s game, Browns head coach Hue Jackson said without hesitation, “A win.”
He added, “I want to win. I like winning. When we haven’t won the last two times, that was tough for me.”
I cringed when I first heard that. Winning a preseason game is his No. 1 goal tonight? Really? Truly?
Yikes!
In almost every case, winning should never be the prime objective in a preseason game. It is like chasing fool’s gold.
But despite all that, in this case with this team, I pretty much agree with Jackson.
This is the third preseason game, which, of course, is the dress rehearsal for the regular season. So if a team is going to win any preseason game, a coach would want it to be the third one. With the starters on both sides expected to play about three quarters, it gives the coaches the truest read on their teams – at least as far as the preseason is concerned.
The fourth preseason game – for the Browns, that is a visit by to FirstEnergy Stadium by the Chicago Bears next Thursday night – is an absolute throw-away. The starters won’t play much, if at all, and the only two objectives are to get out of the game healthy and use what happens to make the final determinations in battles at the middle and lower end of the roster. So for all intents and purposes, tonight is the preseason finale.
So the Browns need to win. They don’t want to lose and face the embarrassment of being on the verge of becoming just the third team in club history to have a winless preseason.
But more than that, with this club having had a franchise-record eight straight losing records, going back to 2008 when the Browns, with high hopes, went 0-8 in the preseason and then just 4-12 in the regular season, causing head coach Romeo Crennel to get fired, Jackson’s guys need to win to get the sweet taste of victory for the first time. It will give some tangible validation of the hard work the players have been putting in. It is also a validation of sorts for Jackson and the members of his coaching staff that they at least have the team on the right path.
A win would be something – good – for everybody to chew on, on the flight back to Cleveland late tonight and into Saturday morning as they begin to really hone in on the start of the regular season. When the Browns wake up Saturday, there will be just 16 days left until they play the host Philadelphia Eagles in the opener onSept. 11.
A loss tonight, on the other end, would cause the doubts, fostered by an 0-2 start and all the losing for so long, to linger as to whether the Browns are really getting better.
In a perfect world, Jackson would like a win, his team to be well ahead after three quarters when the starters depart since that is the most legitimate part of the game, his club to play well (you can, of course, win and not play well) and for the Browns to suffer no major injuries. The Browns are thin as it is. They can ill afford to lose any players.
But even with all the other stuff going according to Hoyle, a win as well would be very nice – the icing on the cake.
And the Browns haven’t had much cake recently, let alone icing to put on it.
