The Browns are awfully confident (again) that they aren’t going to be terrible (again)

On Jan. 2, 2017, Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson guaranteed the team would be better than they were after a 1-15 season in 2016.

They were not.

The Browns became just the second team in NFL history to finish a season 0-16, and Jackson lived up to a promise he never really made by jumping into Lake Erie earlier this month.

But the disappointment of just one win in two years apparently hasn’t dissuaded the Browns from making more promises. Linebacker Christian Kirksey even says Cleveland will make the playoffs for the first time in 16 years.

Former Washington general manager Scot McCloughan — who consulted for the Browns during the 2018 NFL Draft — also feels good about their chances.

And so does former Browns offensive tackle Joe Thomas, who retired earlier in 2018.

A good, reckless sports guarantee is fun. Back in 1987, Lakers coach Pat Riley promised the team would repeat as champions in 1988. When they did, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stuffed a towel in Riley’s mouth before he could guarantee a three-peat. It was great.

But that was a good team promising to stay good. The Browns jumping from winless to the postseason isn’t just optimistic, it’d be just about unprecedented.

The record for a single-season turnaround is 10 wins. The Dolphins did it in 2008 with an 11-5 season after a 1-15 year in 2007, and the Colts jumped from 3-13 in 1998 to 13-3 in 1999.

If the Browns won 10 games in 2018 — well over the 4.5 over/under set by oddsmakers — that’d probably get them in the playoffs. There are 10-6 teams that have missed the postseason in the past, but that’s usually a good enough record to earn a spot.

The only other team to go 0-16 — the 2008 Detroit Lions — only managed to get to 2-14 in 2009.

Cleveland has reason to feel good about its future. The biggest reason for its winless season in 2017 was the play of quarterback DeShone Kizer, but Tyrod Taylor and Baker Mayfield should provide a significant improvement. The Browns also added Denzel Ward, Damarious Randall, and E.J. Gaines on defense, and Jarvis Landry, Carlos Hyde, and Nick Chubb on offense.

At the very least, the Browns quite literally can’t be worse.

But maybe it’d be smart to learn from Jackson’s misguided guarantee and just let the results speak for themselves.