Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco tries to throw the ball during an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023, in Cleveland.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco looks to throw the ball in the Browns’ win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
With three games remaining, the Cleveland Browns remain a playoff seed despite suffering multiple season-long injuries to their star players and having to start four different quarterbacks.
After the team improved their record to 7-1 with a 20-17 win over the Chicago Bears, the Browns are now 9-5 and the #1 seed in the conference playoffs.
Cleveland also has a chance to catch Baltimore for the AFC North title.
Ideastream Public Media sportscaster Terry Pluto dismissed luck as the reason the Browns took a five-game lead in the final two minutes.
“I think they got three balls by the end of the game,” Pluto said.
“It’s not luck, it’s a good opportunity.”Pluto credits Browns general manager Andrew Berry for releasing one of his draft picks, kicker Cade York, and trading Chargers veteran Dustin Hopkins in one of two “crisis moves”.
“And of course he brought Joe Flacco, who was playing football with his brother and the kids,” Pluto said. “You know, quarterbacks and kickers talk about winning close games, and they’re a big part of that.”
“I joined the Browns and was their starting quarterback, winning two of my first three starts and setting several passing records in the process,” Pluto said.
Flacco, Baltimore’s longtime rival and Super Bowl champion, threw for 939 yards, the most in Cleveland’s first three games.
Flacco’s 212 fourth-quarter rushing yards in Sunday’s win at Chicago were the most by a Browns quarterback in 45 years.
Flacco, 38, is also the oldest Cleveland Brown to attempt a pass and a touchdown in a regular season game.
It was the Browns’ ninth win, making coach Kevin Stefanski the first Browns coach since Marty Schottenheimer in 1988 to have two winning seasons.
Pluto believes those stats, along with Stefanski’s roster management due to injuries and Andrew Berry’s roster construction, will earn both men contract extensions after the season.
The Browns visit another playoff contender, the Houston Texans, on Sunday.
Their final two games are at home against the New York Jets on December 28th and against the Cincinnati Bengals on January 7th.
