Cleveland Browns fans generally bleed Orange and Brown and despite recent decades of mediocrity, they still cheer on their favorite team. This season has been so different for the fanbase that even long-time fans like myself, find what is happening in Cleveland this campaign to be stunning. It’s almost like a dream, one that many Browns fans have pictured over the years. Now that dream is becoming a reality it’s been just so much fun to take it all in. We all want this dream to keep going. No one wants to wake up at least until their favorite team wins the Super Bowl.

Yes, that Super Bowl, one that Cleveland has never been even invited to since it began in 1967. Before the inception of the big game, the Browns were the most dominating football franchise in the history of the game. They won eight championships between the old AAFC (All-America Football Conference) and the NFL from 1946 to 1964. The fact that this Browns franchise has been denied a Super Bowl since the start is such a shame.

But now, the tide has turned and for the first time in almost 40 years, the Orange and Brown squad are serious contenders for not only a postseason win but a legitimate run to the Super Bowl. There are many reasons for this including the coaching staff, the defensive unit, and a great special teams unit. The offensive unit has been good this season, but then they got great. Why did they get great?

Insert old man but young at heart, former Super Bowl-winning quarterback 38-year-old Joe Flacco. Before we look back at the last month of the heroics that Flacco has shown his new team let’s not forget how we got to this point and why this entire Cleveland season is just so stunning.

The money face of the franchise going into this season was quarterback Deshaun Watson. He now is recovering from shoulder surgery and is a spectator at this point. The Browns then went to two backups to carry them through the season in PJ Walker and Dorian Thompson Robinson. They both did what they could to help the team. Walker is credited with two big wins this season, including a big one against NFC powerhouse San Francisco 49ers.

While that was all going on, let us not forget several other horrific injuries that changed the trajectory of the season, none bigger than the loss of running back Nick Chubb.

Despite dealing with these adverse conditions the team has run off a series of victories, four games to be exact, and now have an 11-5 record. It should be noted that the Browns coach Kevin Stefanski has now gotten his team to 11 victories twice in his four-year stint in Cleveland, a place he will likely call home for a lot longer. Stefanski is only the second coach in Browns history to help his team to 11 wins or more. The other coach was the one who founded the team, the late Paul Brown.

We weren’t sure what to make of this current season when the Browns were standing at 7-5 after a couple of disappointing losses out in Denver and then Los Angeles. However, the team had just picked up Flacco off his couch at home and he showed bits of glory in the game against the Rams. Since then, Flacco has gathered momentum every week throwing for more than 300 yards in each of the games and leading this once stagnant Browns offense to new levels. That new offensive level alongside that stingy Cleveland defense has led to this recent win streak.

We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but if we could all keep dreaming, Browns fans would certainly be good to go. The best part for this fan base this season is that the dream is really happening in real time and we can be proud to show off our pride for our favorite team.