After the Browns received high marks for their offseason transactional work—as high as A+—the league schedule-makers put a shot across Cleveland’s bow. Take heed: The Super Bowl may not be as close as it appears through rose-colored Browns glasses.

Right there on the first line of the 2021 schedule appeared the same name—Kansas City—that can be found on the last line of their nice 2020 postseason resume.

Kansas City at Kansas City—where the Browns hopes went to die last season.

Those prankster schedule-makers, with their seemingly endless array of possibilities, handed the Browns a season-opener on September 12 not unlike last year’s in Baltimore. The Browns failed that one miserably, 38-6. It was a not only a blotch on their record but also on the psyche. The blotch might as well have been a Rorschach test.

Like the true Rorschach inkblot test, this test could be interpreted in multiple ways. But rather than a tool that, in the right hands, can be used to assess mental disorders, the NFL version, at least in the minds of Browns observers, tended to lead to overreactions.

As is the case following the recent round of free-agency signings, draft choices, and other player acquisitions, the Browns looked good on paper before the 2019 season, especially on the offensive side of the ledger. This time, the defense has been upgraded with as many as nine new starters. But alas, as with inkblots, what a person should take from a first game against a good opponent isn’t always what he thinks he is seeing.

After the Browns went 6-10 two seasons, General Manager John Dorsey and Coach Freddie Kitchens, the principal architects of that disaster, were sent packing and the offensive asset that had raised hopes, quarterback Baker Mayfield, was under siege. When the drubbing in Baltimore looked all too familiar, the assessments were dire.

Didn’t turn out that way, did it?

Coach Kevin Stefanski now in his second season reminded everyone of this in his initial comments after the Browns and other NFL teams learned how their schedules had been put together. “Every year,” he said, “stands on its own merit.” We often forget.

Do not panic, no matter what happens in Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium, a loud and difficult place to play. It may be even more so with the return to full stadia after the quietude of limited crowds during pandemic season. The Browns thrived in the comparative silence. “This year,” Stefanski said, “home-field advantage might be bigger than any year in recent memory with teams dealing crowd noise week in and week out.”

Whatever the decibels in Arrowhead—jet engines are quieter—the schedule-makers have provided what veteran Browns writer Tony Grossi views as a number of perks. They’ll need all of them while trying to plow through the league’s ninth most-difficult schedule, based on last year’s records of its opponents (a .518 winning percentage). Before sharing his and others’ views, let me sprinkle a touch of skepticism on them. Grossi badly underestimated last year’s Browns. Could he be off in the other direction?

That said, plusses that Grossi points out from the Browns’ schedule seem reasonable:

• Four months to prepare for the Chiefs and their divisional playoff rematch—and with a new swifter defense that KC has not seen. (This is, if players and teams find a compromise that will allow for in-person practices for the new defense.)
• Beatable home opponents (Houston, Chicago) for Games 2 and 3 followed shortly by a three-game homestand, including Pittsburgh in Game 8, first AFC North backloaded schedule that reminds me of college conference games after teams have warmed up on nonconference opponents, some no threat to win.
• Though the bye falls later in the schedule—Week 13—than desirable given the fixes and improvement, especially Mayfield’s, after last year’s earlier bye, it does fall between two “back-to-back” Baltimore games. While the Browns are fixing what’s broken or just not quite right, the Ravens must play Pittsburgh.
• Finally, in Grossi’s “absolute gift to the Browns,” Cleveland plays host to Cincinnati for Game 17, while the Steelers get the steel shaft at Baltimore.

While by most accounts, the AFC North race, which the Browns need to win and claim the division title that many predict will go to Baltimore—the former Browns—there are those who are thinking further ahead and see the Browns in their first Super Bowl. I do not give much credence to speculation this far out and before anyone has seen whether coordinator Joe Woods can put together his 4-2-5 speed-ball defense (and someone can actually tackle and not simply hit the man with the football), I cannot resist sharing a couple of brain candies gleaned from the ESPN and the NFL Network.

Cynthia Frelund, NFL Network Analytics Expert, produced win projections—Las Vegas’ livelihood depends on the accuracy of theirs—and chose division champions and wild card teams. This is, of course, offered for your entertainment only (right?). Frelund sees Baltimore winning the AFC North with 10.8 wins (for betting purposes) to Cleveland’s 10.5 which would again put the Browns in a Wild Card game. The easier route to the AFC Championship Game and Super Bowl is to win the North and play at home.

Both Mike Clay, ESPN fantasy writer (fantasy, the online game, not what he writes), and Seth Walder, sports analytics writer, believe the Browns will reach the Super Bowl, a path less traveled all these years. At that point, they diverge: Clay has less faith in the boys from Believeland, picking the defending champion Buccaneers to beat the Browns. Could it be the difference he believes exists between Hall of Famer Tom Brady, who refuses to retire to Canton, and Baker Mayfield. Well, yes. Clay says the Browns are “legitimate” Super Bowl contenders “as long as Baker Mayfield doesn’t stumble.” Walder also takes a shot—who doesn’t—at Mayfield but suggests the Browns can beat the Los Angeles Rams “even without an elite-tier QB.” Me, I hope Mayfield sees their doubts.

Mayfield thrives on doubters. I’m not one. I think he can pass the NFL Rorschach test.