When their 2026 regular-season schedule was been drawn up, no one, other than perhaps the Browns themselves, flat the team would still be in contention at roughly the halfway point of of the year.
If anything, the Browns were hoping to finish with a victory total of six, which would give them one more than they had in 2025.
But here they are, getting ready to play their 10th game of the season against the Houston Texans on Sunday at Huntington Bank field, and the 5–4 Browns are still in contention for a playoff spot.
And that schedule could very much work in their favor. Five of the remaining eight games are at home, including the next four in a row. On top of that, after they play theTexans, the Browns will get to enjoy their bye to get healed up for the stretch run.
They have played very well at home so far, winning all three of their games there, against the Carolina Panthers, Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers. So, they have proven they can win at home, and that means that the home-field advantage seems to be very much in their favor at this juncture.
But again, being just one game over .500 following two straight losses, the Browns don’t have much, if any, wiggle room at this point. They have to win these games, for if they don’t put together a winning streak soon, if not immediately, then they will fall out of contention. In fact, beating. the Texans is almost a must. Dropping to 5-5 would really take the wind out of their sails. Beating them would give the Browns some real momentum heading into the three home games coming out of their week off:
We’ll see what happens, but again, and we have been saying this often lately, if someone had had said before the season that the Browns would already have five victories at this point, you would’ve taken that in a heartbeat. But you’re not willing to stop here, because you don’t know, and none of those teams with winning records in the league know, if they’re going to be back in this situation again next year. The window of opportunity is open, and when it is,then you’ve got to jump through it.
Steve King
