A BIG, BIG, BIG WIN BY BAKER, BROWNS OVER BRONCOS

By STEVE KING

A house of horrors for the Browns?

Some people –perhaps a lot – would say it has been Pittsburgh, and I get that. I respect that. I understand that.

But I would argue – and I’m confident I would be right – that it would really be Denver. That was where the Browns lost twice in three seasons in the AFC Championship Game in the late 1980s. Indeed, postseason games – postseason losses – mean more. They mean a lot more.

So to win in Denver on Saturday night, as the Browns did by a 17-16 score, is not just huge.It is gigantic.

To do it the way they did it, making a defensive play on fourth down in the final minute, is even more gigantic.

To do it by overcoming ill-timed penalties, ill-timed turnovers and ill-timed timeouts, negating a game-ending offsides call on Denver, makes it jump right off the charts.

It keeps the Browns, now 6-7-1 and winners of four of their last five, in the playoff race –the playoff race, in mid-December, for crying out loud, for a team that didn’t win a darn game last season. How cool – how mind-boggling – is that?

It is not a coincidence that it was done in the rookie season of Browns quarterback BakerMayfield. He led this win, make no mistake about it. Although it wasn’t his best game statistically, the fact of the matter is that he made plays – big plays– when he had to.

The last time the Browns won here, 27 years ago, in 1990, also by a point, 30-29, at the end of the game, when some kid from Boardman Township, just outside Youngstown,was the quarterback, is not a coincidence, either.

For whatever reason – a reason I don’t really understand — some people are afraid to compare Baker to Bernie. But to still fail to do that, given what happened not long before Saturday turned into Sunday, would be nothing short of silly.

Bernie changed the Browns’ fortunes in his first season 33 years ago. Baker is doing the same thing in his first season.

Going into the real house of horrors – in Denver – and winning, was a key moment in this transformation.

And oh, by the way, with this win and all the others that have come recently, turning a lost season into a thriller, did head coach Gregg Williams, and offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens, earn the right to stay here, in those same roles, next year?

Well, they sure didn’t hurt themselves.