The 16-game schedule for the Cleveland Browns in 2020 is now revealed, starting with Week 1 in Baltimore and concluding at FirstEnergy Stadium against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Those two bookend games just might be the hardest ones on the slate. The defending AFC North champions in Baltimore is a very tough place for a new coaching staff to taste the NFL for the first time. And finishing with the Steelers in a game that very well might have playoff implications is no easy way for Kevin Stefanski and the Browns to finish.
In between those games, the Browns have a chance to feast.
Last season’s schedule was front-loaded with the difficult games. This year, the Browns do not play a team that won more than eight games in 2019 until Week 10 after opening in Baltimore. Even that Week 10 contest, against the Houston Texans, is at home and features the Browns coming out of the bye week.
That Texans game kicks off the tough stretch. Four of the five games coming out of the bye are against teams with winning records. Only a Week 12 trip to Jacksonville breaks up the run against 2019 playoff teams
Both games against the Bengals are in the first seven weeks. Both games against New York teams are in late December on the road, meaning the Browns will face the Steelers in Week 17 after facing the Giants and Jets in New York.
Loading up on wins early in the season will be critical. But this is a much more favorable slate of games than the 2019 schedule for Cleveland.
