If the Browns needed a lesson on the pitfalls of following a big win, then they got it from the team they beat last Sunday, the San Francisco 49ers.

The 49ers came to Cleveland after a big, emotional home dismantling of the rival Dallas Cowboys. They were still working through the hangover from that, and certainly didn’t have the same focus on the Browns. The result was a 19-17 loss in which, aside from the start of the game and the finish, they were pretty much dominated.

Now here are the Browns riding the wave of emotion after knocking the 49ers from the ranks of the unbeaten. Can they regain some of that enthusiasm as they get ready to go on the road and play an average team in the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday?

That remains to be seen, for they have not been in this position much in recent years. But the scary thought is that they followed up their dominating opening-season win over the Cincinnati Bengals with a disappointing, mistake-filled loss at Pittsburgh.

As such, they wiped out what they gained from the win. In a tight AFC North race in which every game counts, they can’t afford to lay an egg again and nullify the positives of another significant victory.

Steve King