With everyone in the media trying to out-whine the other this morning, our webdork still believes the Browns problems are fixable in the off-season and offers some helpful advice. Newswire time!

Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans!

I have often risen to the defense of the Cleveland media, particularly the folks who head to Berea each day to report on what’s fed to them by the media relations folks. The people who watch the ten minutes of stretching and then wait for prescribed interviews. The folks who can no longer catch players coming off the field to chat briefly and who have increasingly limited access and, therefore, harder and more challenging jobs to do.

But, seriously, this morning, to hell with the tone in the Cleveland media.

Yeah, yeah, I know. You can answer this column in the comments by just writing “3-10” and being done with it. I understand that the Browns season has been a disaster, mainly because of a series of on-field factors, starting with the Watson experiment, but continuing to the present day with the absence of a real running game (caused by personnel issues), Dustin Hopkins’ sudden collapse, the unexpected regression of Martin Emerson, etc, etc.

Blame it on whatever you want; it’s been an awful season.

The one thing I’m not going to do is proclaim that everything is “lost,” everything is “wasted”, and that it’s all doom and gloom and despair with no hope of restoration. That’s the tone this morning, as commentators (I don’t even want to listen to the hot takes on the radio and usual suspects on streaming) trip over each other to liken what’s happening in 2024 to death spirals of the past.

I’ve seen a lot of death spirals. This isn’t one. This isn’t a runaway train. This team is still playing hard but is overmatched by better opponents, having blown its chance to pad its record earlier this season while playing under an uninspiring and inept field general. That will continue over the next several weeks as they face off against a strong series of opponents. Book it.

But Stefanski has this team playing with as much determination and focus as I’ve ever seen from a Browns team in this position, and I have confidence that decent evaluations of players for 2025 are being performed week-in and week-out.

Before yesterday’s game, I wrote how the Browns had everything pointing against them going into Sunday’s battle against the Steelers and how I had little expectation of winning. I was looking for solid play and a competitive game. That’s precisely what we would have had if the team had remembered to bring an actual NFL kicker with them to the contest.

The Browns defense took Russell Wilson, who had thrown for 400 yards the week before and made him look sub-par much of the game, part of a defensive battle on both sides that tilted Pittsburgh’s way partially because they had Alex Highsmith back. The Browns were still missing Jeremiah Owusu-Koroamoah.

Am I happy with the Browns 2024 season? Of course not. The Watson experiment was an unparalleled disaster; the offensive line regressed further than expected, the running game is stuck in neutral, and even though I expected the defense to take a step back, it was further back than I expected.

But there are reasons the team is where they are. They’re identifiable problems and fixable in the off-season, not some sort of “Browns is the Browns” general malaise of doom hanging over the franchise. Screw that. Get that mamby-pamby whining out of here.

Identify the problems. Figure out who is part of the solution and who is not. Create a plan to fix them. Implement. Playoffs are the goal in 2025. And, for the love of God, ignore the damn media.