NFL 100: Which losing teams can turn it around and who is done for the year?

#3 Cleveland Browns – There is still hope

Everybody is giving up on the Browns right now. They are coming off their bye week at 2-4 with a meeting against the undefeated Patriots at Foxborough in a primetime matchup at hand. Their quarterback has become everybody’s favorite target to criticize, people are questioning the hire of a coach who hadn’t even been a coordinator for a full season yet and all that talent has not paid off so far. Regardless of all that, I believe this team could go on a run and be really scary down the stretch.

First and foremost, it is the quality of that Browns roster that makes me think they are still in the hunt. When you have Odell Beckham Jr, Jarvis Landry and a couple of other excellent young receivers to go with Kareem Hunt returning to spell Nick Chubb at running back, you might just have the most talented group of skill position players in all of football.

Baker Mayfield is clearly having a sophomore slump, but if Freddy Kitchens understands that this offense has to go through the running game and play-action shots from understanding to provide those big plays in the passing game, I think Baker will look more like the 2018 version of himself. The biggest issue by far has been the offensive line, but with more focus on running the ball there will be less pressure on the guys up front and I just still believe they will trade for Trent Williams.

Then I look at the defense and I see a front-four that can be as good as any in the league with Myles Garrett leading the way as a DPOY candidate, a young, fast core of linebackers and a secondary that is only coming together with everybody getting healthy.

Let’s be objective here – they probably won’t pull off the W in New England. Either way, that rest of the schedule is lining up for them to make a push for the playoffs. I know Denver is a tough place to play for a young signal-caller, but Baker already won there last year, and even though Buffalo has looked great so far, Cleveland will win one of those two matchups.

After that they host the Big Ben-less Steelers on Sunday Night, get another unofficial bye against Miami, go to Pittsburgh, play the Bengals twice, go to Arizona to face a rookie QB and host Baltimore, who they already put 40 points on. Let’s say they are 3-5 at the midpoint of the season, I just don’t see them losing more than two games from that point on and at 9-7 they could easily sneak into a wildcard spot in the AFC, especially with three of their losses already being to NFC West teams.