THE BROWNS NEED SOMETHING TRULY SPECIAL

By STEVE KING

At some point, this thing has to turn if the Browns, so beset by losing in this nightmarish expansion era, are going to get to the next level and become, as many viewed them before the season, a legitimate playoff contender.

And their fortunes – or, judging from what has happened since the Browns’ return in 1999, their misfortunes — can turn only with something big – not just moderately big or pretty big, really, but truly exceptional.

The Browns’ Kardiac Kids season in 1980 was born with back-to-back home victories over the Green Bay Packers (26-21), when, in the days long before the two-point conversion became part of the NFL, they rallied late from an eight-point deficit and got the game-winner on a 46-yard touchdown pass with 16 seconds left, and over the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers (28-17), battling back from a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit to win in the series for the first time in four years.

The Browns’ great run through the last half of the 1980s was born late in 1985 season when they went to New York and upset a heavily-favored Giants team 35-33 when the hosts missed a last-play field goal.

The Browns’ run to the 1994 playoffs was born with an early November 26-7 dismantling on the road of Philadelphia Eagles, who entered the game with a 7-2 record and were supposed to beat the visitors like a drum. The victory was so decisive and unexpected that it started the Eagles on a season-ending seven game losing streak, turning what seemed to be a sure-fire playoff berth, and much more, into such a disaster that it cost head coach Rich Kotite, a former assistant for Cleveland in that Kardiac Kids season, his job.

Now it’s 25 years later, and the Browns, with just one playoff appearance since then, and none in the last 17 seasons, are, with a 2-4 record, trying to tread water and stay in the AFC North race after having lost two straight and three of their last four. They need something dramatic for this not to be just another failure of a season.

They need a win over the New England Patriots on Sunday. That would be the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots, who have played so much better than anyone else in the NFL in the first half of the season that they look almost unbeatable. And did I mention that this game is at Gillette Stadium, where the Patriots are especially tough to beat?

Improbable? Yes.

Requiring the Browns to play a near-perfect game and the Patriots to perform less than perfect? Yes.

But it’s not impossible. History tells us so.