The Cleveland Browns proved themselves worthy in front of a national audience. The postgame commentary from analysts both local and national trumpeted the legitimacy of Kevin Stefanski’s young team in the wake of Monday night’s exciting loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Coach Stefanski and the Browns themselves don’t care. They lost the game, failing on their goal. They don’t want anything to do with a moral victory.
“We came here to get a victory, and we did not,” coach Stefanski said in his postgame press conference. “Very hard-fought game on both sides. I appreciate how the guys battled, but we just did not do enough to get a win. I do not want to go down the moral victories [path]. We lost. We got beat.”
Several Browns players also expressed the same basic sentiment. They lost and they’re not happy about it.
It’s the right way for the coach and his team to handle the outcome. Almost beating a rival in a thriller isn’t what they are trying to do. The Browns need to win these games. That’s the goal.
That they proved capable of doing so — and they absolutely accomplished that mission in a rousing, resilient comeback — shows how close the 9-4 team is to turning the disappointment into glory. Stefanski and the Browns will feel that in the coming days once the immediacy of the loss is over. But it’s great to see the team not celebrating a close loss, a moral victory. That’s not Stefanski’s mission and he’s going to make sure the players know it.
