Covid-19 outbreak? No playoff win since 1995? Trust the Browns to defy the odds

The Browns last won a postseason game 26 years ago, were ravaged by Covid-19 and faced their bitter rivals on Sunday. So of course they strolled to victory

For almost the entire modern NFL era the Cleveland Browns have been synonymous with Very Bad Things: embarrassed fans covering their faces with paper bags, a litany of tragic quarterbacks, and a painful string of lost seasons.

Yet here we are in a pandemic full of oddities, including Cleveland's transformation into a normal, respectable franchise. Helmed by first-year head coach Kevin Stefanski they went 11-5 in the regular season by not crumbling during the last second of games, by having a legitimate quarterback in Baker Mayfield who continues to evolve, and by instilling a cultural shift.