How close are the Browns to winning the Super Bowl?

By STEVE KING

Did you watch Super Bowl 55 between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night?

If not all of it, then did you watch most of it?

Since you’re reading this website, I’m guessing you did.

And if so, then what do you think? That is, what do you think in terms of the Browns? How close are they to getting to the Super Bowl? Moreover, and more importantly since this is their ultimate goal, how close are they to winning the Super Bowl?

There’s always simply the enjoyment of the game itself as being the main reason to watch the Super Bowl. Championship games are fun to see, and this is the NFL’s championship game.

And that’s the way it’s been – totally – for Browns fans in this expansion era. The team has struggled so much since it returned in 1999 that there was no use looking at the Super Bowl through the lens of how the Browns fit. They didn’t fit at all. They were so far away from the big game that they couldn’t see it with binoculars. The Browns first had to get to the .500 mark and be just average, just OK, before there was even a chance of such thoughts coming down the road at some point. But the Browns couldn’t get even to that point, so such talk was always nipped in the bud.

Now, though, they have indeed become not just average, but well beyond it. They are among a small group of teams who will head into the 2021 season labeled as serious contenders from the AFC to make it to the next Super Bowl.

That’s a game-changer. It really is. It sounds so good to write, say, read and think about, especially with, as mentioned, all the Browns have had to go through to get here.

Again, they’re not where they want to ultimately be, but they are much closer. And that will be the theme of this offseason.