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If the Browns win against the Vikings tomorrow, I’m gonna declare this season a success. (Even though I argue in the previous post that it may be the last game they win until January.) They’ll sit at 5-6, they’ll have looked competitive, they will have established themselves as a running team, and they will have delivered a solid defense. They can lose out, and still have met the rather low expectations set for them.

And the future looks bright for the first time in a long time. Depending on 2 things – how well Kellen Winslow comes back from injury next year, and how well Charlie Frye develops – the Browns offense next year could be incredibly potent. The defense looks very solid, and will likely benefit from a college draft that appears thick with defensive stars. (please let AJ Hawk fall to mid first round…please….) For once, it kinda feels good to be a Browns fan.

Now watch, they’ll go and stink up the place tomorrow.

So when the Browns beat the Vikings tomorrow, and go to 5-6, there’ll be a flurry of, “hey, we’re still in this thing!” Hold your horses, folks. You know what it’s time for….to the schedulemobile!!!

Sunday against the Vikings will probably be the last game the Browns win until 2006. After Sunday, the Browns play at home against Jacksonville (that’s a loss), at Cincy (loss), at Oakland (loss – Browns almost never win these West Coast games), home against Pittsburgh (hate to say it…loss)….that puts them at 5-10, going into the final game on January 1 at home against Baltimore…a game I think we win.

That means a 6-10 season, which meets expectations.

For once, I think the Browns are on the way up meeting a team on the way down.

Sunday in Minnesota, Dilfer will face the NFL’s 28th ranked defense, one that’s 25th against the pass and 21st against the run.

Droughns should have a very good day, which means the QB rotation thingy might actually not matter.

…is apparently all over the NFL.

The three certain changes this weekend will raise to 33 the number of swaps at the quarterback position in the 11 weeks since the season opener. That’s an average of three changes per week, and from the data that ESPN.com was able to research the past few days, represents an all-time high for this point in any season since the NFL adopted the 16-game schedule in 1978…Yeah, it’s been that crazy so far in 2005, and there are still six weekends on the schedule, and plenty more time for coaches to shuffle their quarterback depth charts.

When you think about it, the Browns QB position the last 30 years has really been more chaotic than not. We had two sure starters in that period, Sipe and Kosar, but the rest have been a litany of no hopers, dashed high expectations, re-treads, short term fixes, and utter disasters.

Great minds think alike. So do mine and Kellen Winslow’s…

“It’s frustrating knowing what you could be doing out there, but it will come,” said Winslow. “Next season, when we have Antonio Bryant, Braylon, myself, Reuben Droughns, what are they going to do? They’re going to have to double somebody, and somebody else is going to kill them. It’s going to be a lethal attack.”

He forgot Charlie Frye. Don’t forget Charlie Frye. I’m tellin’ ya, folks, this is gonna be some kind of offense next year, if everyone stays healthy.

Speaking of which, I really hope we some of Frye in Minnesota Sunday. Let’s see him on the road. This is a good team to have him face on the road. Gut feeling, baby!