Browns losses have come to an impressive group of teams through Week 13

Jared Mueller
·2 min read
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The Cleveland Browns are 6-6. Nothing changes that record. No amount of processes, analyzing or hoping changes the fact that the Browns 2021 season has started out with a 6-6 record. Thankfully for the team, they have five games ahead of them to right the ship and make the playoffs.

Taking a look at their schedule so far, it is easy to make one clear statement: Cleveland has lost to come very good teams. While the Browns have victories over two teams with .500 records or better (Cincinnati and Denver), they have mostly feasted on poor competition this year.

Their losses, on the other hand, are against an impressive list, at least based on records through 13 weeks:

  • Cleveland has lost to four division leaders

  • The Browns lost to the team with the best record in the NFL (Arizona at 10-2)

  • The worst record of a team Cleveland has lost to is Pittsburgh’s 6-5-1 record

  • Five of the team’s six losses have come to teams currently in playoff positions with only the Steelers (eighth in the AFC) not currently in

  • The Browns have lost to teams with a combined record of 47-24-1

While none of the above data points changes the team’s record, it helps appreciate the losses. The Browns haven’t blown games against bad teams like some others. Taking a look at the seven teams currently seeded to make the AFC playoffs we find a few bad losses:

  • New England Patriots – Lost to the Saints

  • Tennessee Titans – Lost to the Jets and Texans

  • Buffalo Bills – Lost to the Jaguars

  • Los Angeles Chargers – Lost to the Vikings and Broncos (two teams the Browns have beaten)

  • Cincinnati Bengals – Lost to the Bears and Jets

Only the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs have not lost a game to a team two games, or more, below .500.

While Cleveland has shown they have not been able to beat good teams regularly, they have a chance to change that in the last five games. All five of their upcoming opponents are currently .500 or better including rematches with the Ravens, Steelers and Bengals. They also face off with the Las Vegas Raiders (6-6) and Green Bay Packers (9-3).

If their early-season pattern stays the same, the Browns are likely to lose a majority of their final five games. The team has a chance to change the story of their season. For now, while it doesn’t change their record, they have lost games to an impressive group of teams but haven’t fallen to any bad teams.