The Browns are the season's favorite flavor

CLEVELAND — Those rabid, barking Browns fans have suffered in sadness longer than any group in the NFL, bar none.

They've never watched their team play in the Super Bowl, haven't experienced the playoffs since 2002 or bundled up and attended a postseason home game in 25 winters.

There's a faction of the orange-and-brown backers who remain bitter about late owner Art Modell moving the franchise to Baltimore. The expansion era has been beyond torturous: two decades of disgrace, despair and dysfunction.

Like this proud city, which has taken its share of lumps over the years, Cleveland's beloved team has been a national punchline.

Well, the joke might be on someone else this time.

An array of potent offensive weapons surrounding fiery second- year quarterback Baker Mayfield is joined by an imposing defensive front four led by super freak end Myles Garrett. The Browns, who went 0-16 just two years ago and have symbolized professional incompetence 29 starting QBs, 11 coaches in 20 years are expected by many not only to contend this season but perhaps compete for their first league title in 55 years.

It's about time.

“I'm excited for the direction we're moving in,” said star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., whose arrival in March via a stunning trade with New York Giants has lifted the collective psyche of this football-frenzied region. “I can see it. I can feel it from the fans. I can feel it from this team.”

Once ignored, the Browns have become the league's trendiest team, this season's favorite flavor.

And it all starts with Mayfield, the 2018 No. 1 overall pick who began last season as Tyrod Taylor's backup and finished it breaking Peyton Manning's league rookie record for touchdown passes.

Equal parts brash and boyish, Mayfield officially took over in Week 4 and went 6- 7 as a starter while completing 64 percent of his passes, exuding the swagger that has driven him since his youth.

The 24-year-old has restored hope into the most cynical of Browns fans, who waited patiently for the team to find its long- term answer at the game's most critical position.

“I think that I was born to play here,” he said.

Beckham feels reborn with the Browns, who landed the three- time Pro Bowler famous for spectacular one-handed catches and silly offfield drama.

Reunited with his close friend and former LSU teammate Jarvis Landry, Beckham, who has been slowed by injuries the past two seasons, claims he has put New York's skyline in his rearview mirror.

“I'm just happy to be here,” he said.

In Cleveland. Where football is finally back.