Why This Cleveland Browns Coach Is Okay With 0-1 Start To Season

After a 33-17 loss to the Cowboys in Week 1, the Browns look to bounce back against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2

Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz watches during the second half of an NFL preseason football game at Cleveland Browns Stadium, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio. / Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK

Every NFL team hopes to start the season with a win. However, after falling to the Cowboys 33-17 in Week 1, Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz pointed out the silver lining of and 0-1 start to the season though.

"Maybe I was in Detroit, maybe I was in Philly, maybe Tennessee, I can’t really remember, but at one time, teams that started 1-0 had a less chance to make the playoffs than the teams that started 0-1," Schwarts explained. "And I couldn’t wrap my arms around, like, why that was. And the best I could come up with is the teams that were 0-1 had to confront their problems, right?

"They were embarrassed by the performance. It’s a big game and you have to go out and it’s an immediate self-check. You get slapped and, ‘hey, we gotta go’. The urgency to get it right. And maybe there’s a tendency if you start 1-0 maybe you, maybe you dismiss or ignore some of those same problems just because of the result of the game."

It's a fair point by Schwartz. While teams that start the season with a win may feel a false sens of security, teams that suffer a loss in Week 1 suddenly feel a sense of pressure to not let one loss spiral into multiple.

History has not been kind to teams that start off a season 0-2. Prior to the 2023 season there were 407 teams that started the season 0-2 since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970. Of that number, only 39 wound up making the playoffs.

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Those numbers are a bonafide fact. Which is why Cleveland hopes to avoid an 0-2 start of their its own when they face the Jacksonville Jaguars this weekend. Schwartz, however, admitted that he may have embellished his figure about 1-0 teams just a little bit.

"I don’t remember when that was, but I distinctly remember telling the team that. Who knows, maybe I made it up," Schwartz said with a laugh. "I don’t know. It sounded good. It sounded good."

True or not, there is plenty of merit in his overall point.

"Again, with human nature and things, maybe somebody fed it to me," Schwartz added. "But I think the message there is anytime you lose a game, there is immediae, there might be a little bit more urgency to confront your problems and not gloss over things. And self-correct and to be more determined to go out and correct that."