Win games consistently. And find a franchise quarterback.

 

The two are related. In many ways, they’re joined at the hip. You can’t really have one without the other.

 

It’s been that way for the Browns for all of the expansion era, which started in 1999, but they’ve yet to been able to do either one.

 

They’ll get another chance to work on it on Sunday when the Tennessee Titans come to FirstEnergy Stadium.

 

This is a team that, when it began play over 70 years ago, instantly had both. The Browns won not only games, but also championships – lots of them. And they did so mostly because they had the best quarterback in the game in Otto Graham.

 

The Browns can’t turn the clock back to that time, but it’s high time they do something – anything – to begin to move in that direction. They are farther from that than they’ve ever been in their history.

 

What’s the point of all this – stuff you already know?

 

It’s getting pretty hectic with the Browns these days. From an alleged draft-day message to a top quarterback prospect to an alleged split in the organization between the people picking the players, and the people coaching them – and, of course, the fact the Browns are 0-6 and going nowhere fast — there are a lot of things happening with the club right now, and none of them are good.

 

But it could change – or at least quit heading south for a moment — simply if DeShone Kizer plays well and the Browns beat the Titans. That’s not out of the question.

 

The Titans are just 3-3, which, while it puts them into a three-way tie for first place in the AFC South, sure isn’t anything to write home about. They lost 57-14 go the Houston Texans, who beat the Browns “only” 33-17 last Sunday. So these aren’t the 1972 Miami Dolphins we’re talking about here, folks.

 

This dry spell – both in terms of the winning and the quarterback — has to end someday, doesn’t it? So why not Sunday? Why can’t it happen that day? Why can’t the Browns begin the long road back the other way?

 

The Browns need just two things — a winning performance from Kizer and a win, no matter if the final score is 3-2 or 50-49. Style points don’t matter one bit. For these Browns, there can be no such thing as an ugly win.

 

It’s that simple. The early Browns are proof of it.

 

It’s also that hard. The current Browns are proof of it.

 

DeShone Kizer will never be Otto Graham. Not many have. But Kizer doesn’t have to be. He just needs to be himself. He just needs to be decent.

 

Is that too much to ask?