We all know the numbers by now. In 2.5 seasons, Hue Jackson went 3-36-1. The Browns fired him after the Week 8 loss to the Steelers. In the three games since, the team is 2-1, including Sunday's beatdown of the Bengals -- where Jackson was recently hired as a defensive assistant. While Cleveland is still a half-game behind Cincinnati for the AFC North's worst record, the game felt like a changing of guards. Unofficially, the Browns are no longer the division laughing stocks; that dubious distinction belongs to Jackson's new team, the Bengals.
Part of the reason for the Browns' improved play: New offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens has figured out how to use rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield, who threw for 258 yards and four touchdowns in Sunday's win. And if the post-game, midfield meet-and-greet was any indication, Mayfield was in no hurry to rekindle his relationship with Jackson, opting for the formal handshake over the customary "Hey, good to see you again, stay healthy!" hug.
"I didn't feel like talking," Mayfield told reporters after the game, via Cleveland.com's Mary Kay Cabot.
Why?
"I don't know," he continued. "Left Cleveland, goes down to Cincinnati. I don't know. It's just somebody that was in our locker room asking for us to play for him and then goes to a different team we play twice a year. Everybody can have their spin on it, but that's how I feel."
To be fair, Jackson was fired. Of course, he spent his days between jobs pointing fingers for his failures in Cleveland, and perhaps that didn't sit well with Mayfield.
"It's just like any rivalry game,'' Mayfield said. "That's how it is now. That's how I'm going to treat it every time we play him, but there's no hate. That's just how it is. That's how I'm going to treat it and I think that's how the team should treat it too.''
Mayfield admitted that the rivalry -- perceived or otherwise -- helped motivated him and his teammates (you can watch the Browns take on the Texans on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on CBS, stream on CBS All Access or fuboTV, try it for free).
"We have a lot of guys that have history with Cincinnati. (Tight end) Orson Charles was playing like a maniac today. He kept saying that they're the people that cut him. And then our QB coach, Kenny Zampese, was there for 15 years (and was fired after two games last year). We have history with Cincinnati, that's what happens when you have a division rival, you play them twice a year, there's going to be that."
So why are the Browns playing so much better under interim coach Gregg Williams and Kitchens? Mayfield wouldn't blame Jackson or fired offensive coordinator Todd Haley, but his words revealed plenty.
"We just had to play better," Mayfield said. "You can put your own spin on it, but we have the same players. We have people that we believe in calling the plays now."
The Browns' four wins are the most since the 2014 season. The playoffs remain a possibility, at least mathematically, but even if the team falls short this season the expectations will legitimately be through the roof in 2019. In case you're wondering, Cleveland last made the playoffs in 2002.