MISERABLE IN EVERY WAY, SHAPE AND FORM

By STEVE KING

As they ended their miserable season on Sunday with a miserable 33-23 loss to the miserable Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium, it was mentioned that it was possible, at least at that moment just after 4 p.m., that the Browns could select as high No. 9 in the 2020 NFL Draft in four months.

That’s miserably surreal.

When the season began, with all the hype surrounding the team, Browns fans would have been bummed if the club had ended the year as, according to polls, ratings and opinions, the ninth-best team in the NFL. The top 12 teams – six from the AFC and six from the NFC – make the playoffs.

That’s how far the Browns, who finished 6-10, fell since the opener back on Sept. 8.

As such, then, this season could not have ended quickly enough. For until the season was over, the Browns brass couldn’t begin the process of fixing the assorted problems until there were no more games in the way. Indeed, it’s almost impossible to renovate a house with people living in it.

Was this the most disappointing season in Browns history?

Yes, I would say so.

That all this – or even any of this – would happen to the Browns this season seemed to be a virtual impossibility. The Browns were thought to be well beyond all that dysfunction and ineptitude that has marked most of the seasons in the expansion era. And yet here they are again, stuck in that same mud.

The Browns have a lot of explaining to do as to why this happened and who is responsible for it. The fans deserve it. Their hearts were broken once more. They really believed that the 2019 season would be different, and so did everybody else. There was every reason to believe that.

I’d like to forget this season, as I’m sure all of you would. But we can’t, for it’s the memory that will inspire you, the fans, and those of us in the media to hold owner Jimmy Haslam’s feet to the fire in the offseason to make sure that this vicious cycle finally ends.