By STEVE KING

Though it may well take a long, long time, the Deshaun Watson situation will get settled at some point in some way, shape and form, and when it does, the Browns are going to win a lot of games and compete legitimately for not just the franchise’s first trip to the Super Bowl, but rather also a Super Bowl championship.

But what will the reaction be?

I’m guessing what with all the animosity for Watson because of the plethora of sexual misconduct he is alleged to have perpetrated with many women, the fans are going to treat the success much like they did that of the 1994 Browns.

You remember that team from 28 years ago, don’t you?

Those long-ago Browns, behind a solid running game and, even more so, a historically good defense built and nurtured by head coach Bill Belichick and defensive coordinator Nick Saban, went 11-5 and claimed an AFC wild-card berth to make the playoffs for the first time in five years. That defense allowed just 204 points, setting a franchise record for a 16-game season.

But the team never got its due in terms of respect and appreciation from the fans because of their intense dislike of Belichick. That Belichick is not the Belichick of today, viewed as possibly the greatest head coach in pro football history. He was just another young coach trying to find his way, and when he cut the iconic and ever popular quarterback Bernie Kosar midway through the 1993 season with the team in first place, with only Todd Philcox available as his replacement, the fans turned on him. Belichick and the Browns carried this out with the deftness of a hatchet man.

The team collapsed the rest of 1993 and finished just 7-9, exacerbating the situation.

When the Browns soared in 1994, a lot of fans treated it with indifference. They couldn’t cheer fully for it because that would have indicated an acceptance of Belichick, and they weren’t at all ready to do that.

So, could that happen again three decades later? I certainly think so.

But first, the Browns have to be good enough to see.

READ NEXT: 2022 could be the strangest year ever