Published October 18, 2026 10:33 PM
In Week 1, the Browns were embarrassed by the Jaguars. Former Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, quoting JuJu Smith-Schuster, declared on NBC, “The Browns is the Browns.”
Since then, the Browns is 4-1.
The biggest win of the season came on Sunday, when the new Browns beat the old Browns to create a three-way tie atop the AFC North. Because the Browns have beaten both the Ravens and the Steelers, both of whom are 4-2, Cleveland is in first place.
And first-year head coach Todd Monken intends to relish it. Until tomorrow.
“I’m going to enjoy tonight,” Monken told reporters after the 13-10 win. “And that’s what you have to do in the NFL. These are the nights that you don’t ever want to end, because tomorrow it’s on to the next game. And so, I sit there, I know it sounds really goofy, but you sit there in bed and you don’t want the night to end. It’s 10:30 and you’re tired as hell and you want to be up another 15, 20, 30 minutes to enjoy it, because, shit, tomorrow I’ve got to look at the offensive tape and then you’ve got to move on to the next game.”
The next game could push the Browns to 5-2; they head to Tennessee to play the Titans. And the Browns are road favorites.
The best news is that the Browns are relevant. They’ll likely be jockeying for a playoff berth after Thanksgiving.
In a league littered with teams that claim they want to win the Super Bowl, the truth is that they hope to still be in the mix after the fourth Thursday in November. Because that’s when the NFL season truly starts.
This year, the Browns will likely be one of the teams that is hoping to finish strong enough to earn a spot in the AFC playoff field, and to win as many games as they can once the single-elimination phase commences.