CHARLOTTE - Considering where the Cleveland Browns have been, you'd have signed up for 7-9 in 2014, right? Like, in an instant?
Either way, the Browns won games in October and November. A week ago is an eternity in the ever-changing NFL, though, and another Browns season has reached a miserable December. It happens. No one with realistic expectations, in or out of the building, expected double-digit wins this season or even close.
More importantly, though, the franchise has encountered its worst-case scenario this December in looking ahead to March, May and next September.
No quarterback.
No idea who can or might be the quarterback in 2015. No band-aid for it, no way to twist it, no way to confidently stand up and realistically say eight or nine or 10 wins might come next year without the aid of a higher power.
Again.
The Browns have some good young players and some good older players, too. For the first time in three years, the Browns might have some organizational stability going forward. Of all the ways the Browns could have headed towards 2015 and beyond, though, the worst would be with the veteran placeholder quarterback getting benched for ineffectiveness and the rookie quarterback picked by this administration playing just enough to in no way resemble an NFL quarterback yet not enough for anyone to know for sure.
Bah! Humbug!
Through 15 games, the Browns have the league's lowest completion percentage and lowest third-down success rate. They've scored three offensive touchdowns during a four-game losing streak, one by pass. Brian Hoyer made 13 starts, and it's pretty clear now he made it that far because rookie Johnny Manziel wasn't ready.
Or even close.
Manziel is just 22, still could have maintained college eligibility through 2015, even, if not for his celebrity status and has played in what amounts to a little over six quarters. So, there's a long way to go and he can develop, physically and mentally, and still might be the guy.
Based on hope. Not on any eye test.
The Browns aren't interested in the past and shouldn't be in any evaluation or projection of Manziel, but to go back exactly a decade he's built like Jeff Garcia and plays like Luke McCown.
His scrambling two-yard completion to Jordan Cameron early in Sunday's game at Carolina was reminiscent of the 12-game Brady Quinn era several years later. Manziel got hurt later in that game -- a non-contact hamstring injury while throwing a pass -- and then had to leave after after aggravating that injury on a designed run, the exact kind of play that works about 20 percent of the time in the NFL.
Carolina quarterback Cam Newton, who looks like LeBron James out there in full uniform, ran effectively without taking many hits. It still could be about the long term with Manziel and it's clear he has a lot to learn, but he's going to hang out with LeBron, not look like him.
And work like LeBron, too? That's another question about Manziel. An important one, and one without an answer.
The Browns are aiming to build something that will last. How can anyone involved think Manziel can?
Hoyer is headed for free agency after next week, and even if there's zero chance he can win more than he did this year or even wants to return, his status sums up the problem. It's a thin quarterback market. There will be many potential buyers and few solid targets. The draft class appears thin. Manziel's trade value would be, um, small. The list of potential trade targets is pretty small, too.
What do the Browns do at the game's most important position?
That's the question, again, hanging over everything.
That's the worst-case scenario. And here it is.
