Bengals, Browns play Battle of Ohio
The Battle of Ohio begins anew on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium with the Cleveland Browns hosting the Cincinnati Bengals.
As has been the case far too often in recent years, the game isn’t getting much attention. The teams are a combined 0-6, with nothing but bragging rights on the line. Between the two teams, there has not been. a playoff win since 1994, when the Browns beat the New England Patriots in an AFC Wild Card Game. The winning head coach was Bill Belichick.
Fast forward 23 years, and the franchises have gone downhill. Cincinnati has reached the playoffs seven times since Marvin Lewis took over as head coach in 2003, but has yet to take January success. The Browns relocated and became the Baltimore Ravens in 1995, before the NFL granted another franchise to Cleveland, christened the Browns. Since 1999, when the Browns came back, there has been a single playoff appearance.
Even though both teams are 0-3 going into this game, there are two distinct paths being taken. The Browns are obviously in the midst of a complete rebuild from the ground up. Cleveland has torn down the roster once again and started to put the pieces together around Hall of Fame left tackle Joe Thomas, rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer and a front seven that includes first-overall pick Myles Garrett, and inside linebackers Jamie Collins and Christian Kirksey.
The Browns are not expecting to do much in the way of winning. After going 1-15 a year ago, any kind of tangible success would be a shining light on a franchise that has spent most of the past 50 years in the darkness.
Cincinnati is in no such place. After drafting wide receiver John Ross and running back Joe Mixon respectively in the first two rounds of the draft, there were high expectations this season. While few if any believed this was a Super Bowl team, the idea of getting back to the playoffs after missing in 2016 for the first time in six years wasn’t far-fetched.
Instead, the entire thing has fallen apart. Andy Dalton is regressing to the point that Lewis fired Ken Zampese, now the former offensive coordinator. Bill Lazur took over the reins and while a pair of touchdowns in Green Bay is an improvement over none in the first two games, it’s not exactly a sigh of relief.
The state of Ohio is the only one to have two NFL teams and zero combined titles between the two of them. At some point, the Browns have to start turning a rebuild into victories. Meanwhile, the Bengals have to start their rebuild, realizing that this group isn’t going to get them anywhere fast.
The Battle of Ohio … it’s a pop-gun affair.
