The Cleveland Browns are already one of teams making most waves through the first six weeks of the regular season thanks to a 4-2 record and the fact that they have already beaten the 4-2 Steelers and the 4-2 Ravens to claim the top spot in the AFC North, for now.
However, one glance at the remaining schedule for the Browns reveals an interesting quirk that head coach Todd Monken’s team will be looking to parlay into the team’s first postseason run since 2023.
Besides the four remaining AFC North games on Cleveland’s schedule -- a rematch against Pittsburgh, a rematch against Baltimore, and two contests against the 3-2 Bengals -- there is only one team currently holding a winning record among the games yet to be played.
The 3-2-1 New York Giants are the only team currently holding a winning record left on the Browns’ schedule. Besides the Giants, the Las Vegas Raiders at 3-3 are the only other team not holding a losing record. All other opponents left currently carry losing records: Titans, Saints, Texans, Falcons and Colts.
While the Browns would need at least two more wins to cover their win total odds of 5.5 from before the season started, winning all five games left against teams with losing records would ensure a winning season for the first time since 2023, and even then, playoffs might not be guaranteed. That’s why the way the Browns’ remaining schedule is lining up is so important for this team.
Why the Cleveland Browns cannot afford to drop another game outside the AFC North
Life is hard within the league’s most competitive division. It’s not just the fact that back in 2023, it became the only division in league history with all four teams sporting winning records. It has to do with how hard it is to exert dominance over the other clubs.
Since 2002, the league’s probability at sweeping a divisional opponent sits at 42 percent, but in the AFC North, that number is roughly 34 percent. Likewise, the NFL has a league-wide probability of 3.8 percent of sweeping all three divisional opponents in any given year, but that number shrinks to 1.04 percent in the AFC North, where it’s happened just five times in its history -- the Steelers have done it three times, while the Bengals and Ravens just once, each. Cleveland has never swept the entire division since its inception.
Furthermore, since 2002, the Browns have only managed to sweep a single divisional rival three times in one season, all three against Cincinnati (2002, 2018 and 2020). Cleveland has never swept the Steelers while playing in the AFC North, and hasn’t done so generally speaking since 1988. The Browns have yet to sweep the Ravens in any instance.
With the Browns already handing losses to Pittsburgh and Baltimore, nobody says Cleveland can’t get a sweep over any one of those teams. It just hasn’t happened yet in the AFC North. And even thinking about sweeping Cincy is a complicated proposition, too. Moreover, we haven’t even begun to discuss how and why the team is winning despite Deshaun Watson’s poor performances, and without any sign of life from the ground game.
Yes, Cleveland is off to a phenomenal start to the season, but closing in on a postseason berth won’t be easy. That’s why the Browns need to take advantage of every single opportunity they get, including winning all their remaining matchups against non-winning teams.
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