By Emmanuel Berbari
The Cleveland Browns continue to defy all football odds.
With a 21-21 Week 1 tie against the Pittsburgh Steelers, last year’s 0-16 disgrace continues to play with our minds.
Following the game, Adam Schefter, ESPN’s NFL Insider and the most respected source for the league’s news, tweeted, “Cleveland didn’t lose. It tied, 21-21. Improvement.”
Fact.
The first reply, “0-0-16,” served as a thought-provoker.
Not that this would ever happen. Tying two times in an NFL season is about as common as an unassisted triple play in baseball. If anyone could do it, the Browns would be the team to get it done.
With that said, this crazy idea of a team drawing 16 consecutive football games had my mind moving in 5,000 different directions.
A winning percentage of .000, yet absolute relevancy. Bordering on oblivion, yet in contention.
Could a team with 16 ties qualify for the postseason? Would it be considered legitimate?
Zero wins represents infamy. Zero losses is certifiably elite.
You go through an entire NFL season and fail to drop a single game and you’re considered… what…mediocre? Formidable? Atrocious? The possibilities are endless.
What if the Browns were able to tie with the best of the best, but play down to the worst of the worst?
At first, I equated this to an 8-8 season. I was ridiculed for placing a “0-win” team in the same category as an 8-win display of mediocrity. Following this remark, I was told that a 1-15 season would be preferable.
Hmm…should this scenario result in the first overall NFL Draft selection? I think not.
There is certainly a level of incompetence that leads to a goose egg in the win column, but a desired level of prestige that leads to nada in the second column.
Outraged, I took this to a good old-fashioned Twitter poll. 55 people took the time to vote.
62 percent said that a 0-0-16 football team should be considered “good,” while the remaining 38 percent classified the hypothetical as a “bad” team.
Four individuals replied, which was honestly the most telling.
The first reply stated, “Absolutely! They would only be the 3rd team ever to complete the NFL reg. season undefeated!!! They could make the playoffs with that record. Seahawks got in at 7-9 one year. Panthers made it with a 7-8-1 record. 8-8 sure feels better than 0-0-16, but is it?” Could they make the playoffs? I couldn’t tell you. This has to be a winning-percentage phenomenon. I wholeheartedly agree with the rest of the user’s argument.
A Browns fan replied, “As a browns fan answering this it would be very good. Every other team would say no. By definition it’s average, but a tie is like kissing your sister (bad news bears).”
Average. Yes, the most logical response happened to be from the most unbiased source, an outsider who happens to root for a team that has reached the furthest depths of gut-wrench and anguish.
The most important reply was, “It’s actually an interesting question,” because it is. It’s extremely difficult to categorize, and this remark acknowledged that quality of the argument.
As for the final response: “It’s better than their record last year.”
Well, that much cannot be refuted. 16 ties is undeniably preferable to 16 losses.
After debating the matter for 30 minutes, I realized it was as good as an Abbott & Costello skit. The argument was circular. “A team that has no wins is awful! But they didn’t lose a game!” There is no middle ground. Thankfully, we will (hopefully) never witness this. If we do, would the Browns be considered a “no-win team,” a “no-loss team,” or simply a “16-tie team?” It just might determine their playoff fate.
