If what happened to his Browns, and other teams in the NFL, isn’t going to change the thinking of General Manager Andrew Berry regarding the value of backup quarterbacks, then nothing will.

The Browns, after rolling the dice and failing to get a good backup coming out of training camp and the preseason, now have a good one now in Joe Flacco, so they still have a chance — and a good one at that — to win enough games down the stretch to make the playoffs.

We’ll find out if that’s also the case with the team they host on Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Jacksonville Jaguars, who lost their starter, Trevor Lawrence, in a 34-31 overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night. They will have to go with backup C.J. Beathard.

And speaking of the Bengals, who with the win improved to 6-6, just a game behind the 7-5 Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC wild-card standings, they got a lights-out performance from their backup, Jake Browning. The Browns will have to be wary of him when the teams meet at Cincinnati in in a month in a regular-season finale that could be for a playoff berth.

Indeed, especially now because of the violence of the game, but also for a long time, a team needs not only a good starting quarterback, but also a good backup, to get to where it wants to go. It’s the only position at which a team is wise to overspend.

Steve King