Remember when ESPN NFL Nation Writers Predicted a 1-15 Browns Season?

Preseason predictions are often worthless, particularly in regards to the NFL.

Attempting to predict what will happen in the NFL is a essentially crapshoot. Look no further than ESPN's predictions for the Browns this season.

Before the start of the season, ESPN.com's NFL beat writers predicted each game for his or her team. Pat McManamon, ESPN's Browns beat reporter, predicted a 6-10 record. Writers covering the Browns' opponents forecasted a 1-15 season for the Browns.

McManamon was incredulous, as were a host of Browns fans. They had a right to be.

In hindsight, these predictions haven't even been close. The Browns are a legitimate playoff contender at 6-3, not 0-9 as these ESPN NFL Nation writers forecasted.

ESPN.com's official preview hasn't turned out to be much better. ESPN used Advanced Football Analytics to forecast a 5-11 finish for the Browns in 2014. Only three of the predictions for the Browns' nine games thus far have been correct. The article also included this line, which is hilarious in retrospect:

The past six seasons, the Browns have had 16 different starters (some repeated year to year), or just fewer than three per season. In there of the past six seasons, they've started three, which means that as the 2014 season progresses, the Browns have as good a chance of putting Grossman on the field as they do Manziel or Brian Hoyer.

Grossman is currently a free agent and has not taken a snap in an NFL game since 2011.

Can we agree once and for all that preseason predictions are largely meaningless?