NFL playoffs: 5 teams SF 49ers fans can root for this postseason
By Peter Panacy
No. 4: Cleveland Browns
The last time the Cleveland Browns made the playoffs was back in 2003. There’s a generation of adult Browns fans who have never seen their team in the NFL playoffs.
For San Francisco fans who thought the postseason-drought years of the mid 2000s and the mid 2010s were bad, try asking someone from Cleveland what being a fan of a perennial laughingstock would be like.
OK, so some SF 49ers may not be enamored with Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield. Nick Bosa probably isn’t a fan, but that’s a 2019 story.
Instead, the Browns can push through after their 11-5 season with the hopes of turning in yet another victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, whom they’ll face in the Wild Card round and had to beat in Week 17 to secure an AFC postseason berth.
Should that happen, it would be the first time Cleveland has advanced in the playoffs since they made it to the divisional round in 1995 when now-New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was performing the same duties with the Browns.
Crazy to think it’s been that long since Cleveland fans have witnessed a playoff win, but that’s the case.