Never bet on Cleveland

Why would you do it?

Take the Browns -3.5? Playing in this hellish weather?

The funny thing is, you almost had it. The Browns could have covered and beaten a bad team by double digits.

But Cleveland only won by 3.

If you put money on this spread, you just suffered one of the worst beats of the year. That half-point got you.

With a little over a minute left and no Houston timeouts remaining, all Baker and the Browns offense needed was a first down. Hand the ball off, stay in bounds, take it three yards, game over.

That’s not how this went down.

Mayfield pitched it to Nick Chubb who stayed in bounds and took it all the way… to the one-yard line.

An easy Chubb TD (plus an extra point) could’ve put the Browns at 17-7 with under a minute left. More importantly, it could’ve given Browns bettors confidence in a rare cover.

As you watch the video, you may be able to hear the distant cries of Chubb fantasy owners and Cleveland bettors everywhere.

You may also hear the laughter of folks like me who happened to take the Texans.

With a win, the Browns move to 6-3 on the season but they are 3-6 against the spread. Cleveland is one of the worst bets in the NFL as they are featured frequently in the Sunday Scaries.

It’s always fun to laugh at the Browns, but they’re actually getting better in the win-loss column. For the first time since 2002, Cleveland has a very real shot to play in a playoff game.

Although the Browns are now playing relevant football in November, one thing remains the same: Never bet on them.