The Browns' preseason finale against the Bears is starting to loom large, at least from a peace of mind standpoint.  After watching the Browns turn in back-to-back preseason performances that ranked somewhere south of west tissue paper on the mental fortitude scale, Thursday is one last chance to prove that this season isn't shaping up to be as bad as we think it might be.  Erik Cassano gives us his thoughts on this years Browns as the regular season quickly approaches.

Three preseason games down, one to go.  Then the Cowboys come to town.  While the offense has looked meager in August, I think most Browns fans agree that it will be the defense that determines whether or not this team will be playing football games in January this season.  In his second column for us, Jeff Walcoff takes a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly with the 2008 defense of the Cleveland Browns.

If you had a sinking feeling about the Cleveland Browns lately, it's not just the recurring aftertaste of a Cleveland Indians' season gone horribly wrong.  It's because "concern" is now an officially accepted state of mind in Berea.  According to head coach Romeo Crennel, this week he became concerned after the team lost its first preseason game.  He grew more concerned with the second and is now apparently really concerned after the third.  Gary looks back at the Lions game in this weeks Lingering Items.

After two straight preseason stinkers, Browns fans are in a panic as the team gets set for their final exhibition affair against the Chicago Bears.  Hiko's not quite ready to join the masses at the ledge in full panic mode, but he's mentally preparing himself for the possibility of the jump.  And he talks about his altered expectations, as well as the Browns/Lions game in this week's edition of The Browns Outsider.