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OK, Browns fans, does it make you feel better, or worse, or perhaps does it not matter one bit, that your team twice this season beat the AFC champion, getting-ready-to-play-in-Super Bowl 56-on-Sunday Cincinnati Bengals?

Yes, the Browns swept the season series — for the second straight year — from their in-state AFC North rival Cincinnati Bengals. The Browns blew them out, halfway back to Covington, Ky, located across the Ohio River from Paul Brown Stadium, in the teams’ first meeting, on Nov.7, 41-16. The Browns, in their first game of the second half of the season, rolled to a 24-7 second-quarter lead and never looked back, building the advantage to 31-10 after three quarters.

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow looked very ordinary, throwing for 282 yards and two interceptions, one of which was returned 99 yards for a touchdown by cornerback Denzel Ward.

Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield passed for two touchdowns, and Nick Chubb rushed for 137 yards and two scores, averaging nearly 10 yads per carry.

Indeed, the Browns looked in that game like everybody thought they would throughout this much-anticipated season.

As we all know, it was, the way it turned out, just a tease.

The teams’ second meeting, in the regular-season finale on Jan. 9, appeared for a while that it might be for the division title, But that did not happen, as the Bengals clinched the championship the week before by stunning the Kansas City Chiefs he week before, rendering the contest at FistEnergy Stadium one that was just for fun. The Browns won 21-16 to finish 8-9, which was like a kid getting underwear or socks for Christmas when he instead wanted the newest high-tech electronic gadget.

The Browns haven’t lost since. Neither have the Bengals, meaning they will take a 13-7 record into the Super Bowl against the Los Angeles Rams.

Again, does any of this matter to you, Browns fans? Does it mean anything going forward?