The 2024 season for the Browns began with a disappointing loss to the Cowboys and ended Jan.4 with an expected loss to the AFC North champion Ravens in Baltimore — 35-10. In between Game 1 and Game 17 were many sobering moments that should lead team owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam to conclude the Browns are not a quick fix away from being a contender on the level of the Ravens, Steelers or Bengals in the AFC North. The Browns finished 3-14 because they scored more than 18 points only three times — all with Jameis Winston at quarterback. They were outscored, 435-258. They turned the ball over 34 times and took it away only 12 times. They lost by double digits nine times. 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Judging from recent comments from Jimmy Haslam, he apparently is choosing continuity over major changes. “We’re very supportive,” Haslam told ESPN on Dec. 11. “We went from 11-6 and making the playoffs to 3-10, so it’s a little perplexing what happened.” The Browns have lost four straight since Haslam issued that vote of confidence — each by double figures. The season ended with a six-game losing streak. Making offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey the scapegoat would be easy, but that alone will not be an elixir to cure what ails the Browns. The Browns have been around since 1946, excluding 1996-98 when the franchise was on hiatus after the original Browns were moved to Baltimore by the late Art Modell. This is the first time in their history their win total decreased by eight games from one season to the next, yet Haslam apparently plans to stick with Berry. Berry is scheduled to meet with reporters on Jan. 7 at team headquarters in Berea. That meeting would not likely be scheduled if the plan was to strip Berry of his executive vice president of football operations/general manager title. However, Haslam could decide to let Berry keep the executive title and hire someone else to be general manager and run the draft. Former general manager John Dorsey is the one who drafted Baker Mayfield with the first pick in 2018. Whether the Browns should have held onto Mayfield instead of trading him in 2022 is another debate, but what is undeniable is the quarterback position has grown worse, not better, in the three seasons since Mayfield was traded to the Panthers. Deshaun Watson, Jacoby Brissett, Joshua Dobbs, PJ Walker, Dorian-Thompson Robinson, Joe Flacco, Jeff Driskel, Jameis Winston and Bailey Zappe are the quarterbacks acquired by the Browns on Berry’s watch, though Dobbs was traded to the Cardinals at the end of training camp in 2023 without ever appearing in a regular-season game with the Browns. DTR is the only quarterback selected by Berry (fifth-round in 2023) in five drafts totaling 37 picks. The Browns were third in the draft order before playing the Ravens. That position will improve if the Patriots and/or Titans lose on Jan. 5. The Patriots and Titans are 3-13 with one game to play. Berry has not proven he can be trusted with a top-three pick. Because trading their first-round picks in 2022-24 was partial payment to the Texans in the trade for Watson, Berry has had only two first-round picks during his tenure with the Browns. He used the 10th overall pick in 2020 on left tackle Jedrick Wills and the 26th pick in 2021 on cornerback Greg Newsome II. Neither pick was a home run. And it isn’t just the first-round pick the Browns must get right. The Browns have one second-round pick and two picks in the third round among their nine total picks in 2025. As for the game itself against the Ravens, the out-manned Browns played hard, as they have for most of the season. That is a credit to Stefanski. Injuries have decimated the Browns. They played the Ravens without cornerback Denzel Ward; linebackers Jordan Hicks, Devin Bush and Jeremiah Owusu-Kotamoah; defensive tackles Dalvin Tomlinson, Maurice Hurst , and Shelby Harris; running backs Nick Chubb, Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong; tight end David Njoku; wide receiver Cedric Tillman; offensive tackles Dawand Jones and Wills plus defensive end Alex Wright because of injury. Defensive tackle Mike Hall was carted off the field in Baltimore with a knee injury – symbolic of the way the season has gone. “I respect this game too much; these players do (to not play hard),” Stefanski said. “It’s a privilege to play. It’s a privilege to coach. So if they’re keeping score, we’re going to battle. We’re going to compete to the end. “We came up short in this game and that’s the frustrating part, but we’re going to battle.” It is a mercy that this season has ended. Now the serious work begins to make sure it doesn’t happen again.