By STEVE KING

When they meet the Ravens late Sunday afternoon in Baltimore, the Browns will play their first high-pressure game in Week 17 since 2007.

That was the year, of course, when the Browns, 9-6 heading into the final week, had to defeat the San Francisco 49ers at home and then hope that the Indianapolis Colts, who were sitting all of their starters, including some guy named Peyton Manning, because they had already secured the AFC South title and thus nothing to play for, would beat the Tennessee Titans that evening so Cleveland could earn a wild-card playoff berth.

The Browns handled their end of the deal, beating the lifeless 49ers 20-7, but the Colts, with the great Jim Sorgi at quarterback, blew a 10-7 third-quarter lead and fell 16-10 to the Titans, who, like Cleveland, finished 10-6, but earned the final wild-card spot on tie-breakers.

The following year, the Browns began a 10-year streak – and still counting – of losing records. Now standing 7-7-1, they can change that, of course, by defeating the first-place Ravens, who will garner the AFC North title with a victory.

If the Browns were also playing for a playoff berth – they are third in the division, a game behind the second-place Pittsburgh Steelers (8-6-1), and were officially eliminated last weekend – it would make the game with the Ravens even more meaningful from a Cleveland perspective, even though from head coach Gregg Williams to quarterback Baker Mayfield to the last player on the roster, the Browns promise that they will treat it like a postseason contest.

I thought a lot about all that on Thursday. Why? Because the date was Dec. 27, which marks the 54th anniversary of one of the greatest days in Browns history. It was, of course, on that date in 1964 that the Browns, though 11-point underdogs, shut out the great Baltimore Colts 27-0 in the NFL Championship Game and secured their last league title.

You had to have been alive to fully grasp what a glorious day – a truly glorious accomplishment – that was. As such, Dec. 27 has been a tremendously historical sports date in Cleveland every year since then.

There was no parade in Cleveland for that championship. Sports title parades weren’t held in cold-weather cities in the winter back then.

But if the Browns – perhaps this group of Browns down the road – ever win the Super Bowl, then the victory parade of all victory parades would ensue through the streets of Cleveland, no matter what the weather. The victory parade for the 2016 NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers was astronomical — off the charts – but, though it may be hard to believe, a parade for a title-winning Browns team in this football-crazy city would be even bigger.

Really.

So, considering all that, then, it was a lot of great thoughts that I had on Thursday. Hope your thoughts that day were even half as good. If so, then they were super, too.