Browns fans’ confidence rises after firing of Hue Jackson, but still expecting big loss to Chiefs

Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse — a survey of fans across the NFL, powered by SurveyMonkey. Each week, we send 32 polls to 100+ plugged in fans from each team. Browns fans, sign up HERE to join FanPulse.

The Week polls are in, so let’s look at the results to see how optimistic Browns fans are getting!

How confident are you in the direction of the team?

Last week: 53 percent confidence

This week, 63% of fans voted for their confidence in the direction of the Browns, a 10% increase from last week. It’s not often that you’ll see an increase in confidence after being destroyed by your division rivals, but this boost no doubt comes as a result of the firing of Hue Jackson.

The Browns’ confidence is well ahead of the Ravens (21%) and Bengals (33%), and just behind the Steelers (68%).

Will the Browns win or lose in Week 9?

Odds: Chiefs are 9-point favorites

Dawgs By Nature FanPulse: Chiefs by 9

Arrowhead Pride FanPulse: Chiefs by 14

Just how accurate have Browns fans been this year at predicting games? As the graphic below shows, Cleveland fans have been rather optimistic. The only time the actual outcome overachieved compared to what fans expected was Cleveland’s Week 5 game over the Ravens. The biggest misstep, by far, was how badly the Browns were beaten by the Chargers in Week 6.

Midseason Awards

Four players were part of the poll for midseason defensive player of the year. Myles Garrett was one of the four options, but received the least amount of votes (which is fair). The real midseason defensive MVP should be Aaron Donald, but he gets less buzz than Khalil Mack.