For a week leading into Sunday, it was hard to look at the Cleveland Browns and resist letting the memory of 2007 creep in — a history lesson of buying into success and change too early, only to find out that it was another cruel mirage in a desert of frustration.
For many who have orbited the Browns over the past two decades, that’s part of what made Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers so consequential. This wasn’t just about securing a spot in the playoffs. It wasn’t just about erasing the incomprehensible loss to the New York Jets.