The Kansas City Chiefs have learned their first opponent of the 2020 NFL playoffs: the Cleveland Browns.
After a weekend of waiting to see how the seeds would work out in the NFL postseason, an NFC North upset in the Wild Card round of the playoffs has given way to the Kansas City Chiefs first opponent: the Cleveland Browns.
On Sunday night, the Browns shocked the Pittsburgh Steelers with an opening round win that sent head coach Mike Tomlin and his team home much earlier than expected—especially when considering that the Steelers were the last unbeaten team in the NFL this season at 11-0. Anchored by perhaps the league’s best defense and a solid young offensive core surrounding veteran quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers were hoping to make another potential Super Bowl run together. Instead, they were booted by the Browns.
Everyone had pretty much written Cleveland off considering that the team was missing four starting players due to a recent COVID-19 outbreak that had also kept the roster from practicing at all this past week. Even head coach Kevin Stefanski was forced to stay home due to quarantine, which meant former Chiefs assistant Mike Priefer—the Browns special teams coach—was calling the shots. And let’s not forget the general ineptitude associated with the Browns organization.
Don’t tell that to the Steelers after they were bounced in a 48-37 win.
With the win, the Browns won their 12th game of the year after going 11-5 in the regular season. They also won the honor of moving on to face the Chiefs at Arrowhead in the Divisional Round. The Chiefs are 13-11-2 all time against the Browns and they’ve won three straight against Cleveland, which goes back as far as Andy Reid‘s tenure with the team. The Chiefs won the last meeting in 2018 on the road by a final score of 37-21.
The Chiefs will host the Browns on Sunday, January 17 at 2:00 p.m. C.T.