If you wanted to encapsulate all of the awfulness, and the futility, and the anguish of being a Browns fan in one contest, today’s putrid loss against the woeful Cincinnati Bengals in a pelting rainstorm would be a good way to do it.
We Browns fans have seen this before — and not just because, for the 12th time in 13 years, the Browns have gagged away their season opener. Once again, the Browns failed to show the toughness and killer instinct to put the game away when they had the Bengals on the ropes. Once again, the Browns lost the lead in the fourth quarter against a team that they should have beaten and then failed miserably in their attempt to mount their own two-minute drive. Once again, there were crucial breakdowns that led to plays that made the Browns look like an uncoached pee wee team from Finland being introduced to American football for the very first time.
It is all so tiresome, so embarrassing, and so predictable. The players change, the coaches change, and the front office officials change, but the horror of being a Browns fan goes on, and on, and on.