Cleveland Browns' Season Marred by Missed Opportunities

When the Cleveland Browns and head coach Mike Pettine look back at this season, it will probably look like one big missed opportunity.

They are not eliminated from the playoffs yet, but they have fallen to the 12th seed in the AFC and need to win out just to have a shot at the postseason.

The toughest part is that there were plenty of wasted chances to get there.

It wasn’t just a particularly rough year in the AFC North that all but eliminated the Browns. Sure, every other team in the division has eight wins through 13 weeks of football, but that still isn’t an excuse. There are two wild-card spots in the AFC up for grabs.

Looking back through the schedule, you can see where they faltered. Every loss in the NFL is an opportunity missed, but some are more valuable than others.

Being 2-2 in the division isn’t too bad, but being 4-6 in the conference is.

Conference record is the second tiebreaker for the wild-card spot behind head-to-head record. The Browns fell against two different teams who are ahead of them in the wild-card race. Those losses are costly.

If you are going to lose, then you also need to lose outside your conference. It would have been better for the Browns to lose to Atlanta and Tampa Bay than Houston and Buffalo. Those two wins would have helped their head-to-head scenarios and conference record.

Even in the early part of the season, however, there were missed opportunities.

You can go all the way back to Week 1, when they traveled to Pittsburgh. Falling behind 27-3 at halftime is not the ideal way to start the season or a division game.

The Browns' valiant comeback effort fell just short, and if they had played slightly better in the first half, that would have been a victory.

In Week 4, the Browns had the Baltimore Ravens on the ropes heading into the fourth quarter. They allowed six unanswered points in the final five minutes and the Ravens stole a victory. The Browns offense went three-and-out on three of its final four drives in that game.

That is two division wins that would have the Browns sitting in first place in the AFC North and holding tiebreakers over every other divisional foe.

Week 7 at Jacksonville is one of the biggest disappointments of the season. You never want to see a team think they are better than they truly are, and that is exactly how the Browns looked. They took the Jaguars lightly, which caused them to get their doors blown off by a winless football team.

Lesson learned for a young roster, but opportunity lost for the postseason. Once again, that was a conference victory the Browns wasted.

That brings us to Sunday against Indianapolis. The number of opportunities that were flushed down the toilet could drive a Browns fan to drink—well, drink more than they already do tailgating before the game.

First, Pettine missed the chance to start Johnny Manziel or, more importantly, sit Brian Hoyer. The offense lacked spark and interest, and Hoyer delivered his worst game of the season in its biggest spot.

The defense played its best game of the season and dominated for all four quarters, but the offense could not capitalize time after time. It was frustrating for everyone on defense and everyone watching as well.

Colts quarterback Andrew Luck also played his worst game of the season. It isn’t often that you can have Luck flustered, throwing multiple interceptions and posting a terrible 59.8 quarterback rating. When a star is falling from the sky, you have to grab it.

The loss put the Browns so far behind the eight-ball that they need a 50-foot extension ladder to shoot a shot that could put them into the playoffs at this point.

There is one opportunity left, however. Head coach Mike Pettine can name Manziel the starting quarterback and give the Browns a slight shot at the tournament. It would also give Manziel a shot at avenging a verbal cheat shot from Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis.

On Monday night, Lewis spoke with WLW-AM in Cincinnati and chose an interesting word when describing Manziel.

"You gotta go defend the offense,” said Lewis. “You don't defend the player, particularly a midget.''

Here is the audio, courtesy of Mary Kay Cabot of The Plain Dealer:

"

Here is the sound to #bengals coach Marvin Lewis calling Manziel a midget on WLW in Cincy https://t.co/RP2QCFlWjQ

— Mary Kay Cabot (@MaryKayCabot) December 9, 2014"

So while the Browns have a long shot at making the playoffs, they have a great chance to set a tone for Manziel’s tenure as quarterback.

Johnny Football, the defense and anyone else who contributes on Sunday can show the AFC North that they will rally behind their quarterback. More importantly, they can take the opportunity to show that they can win with Manziel at the helm.