Browns’ playoff chance depends on a loss by Titans

Cleveland hopes to reach 10 wins with a victory over San Francisco today at home.

CLEVELAND (AP) — They’ll play, then they’ll watch on TV — and maybe pray.

The Cleveland Browns have a busier-than-usual Sunday ahead.

It could be their last one together for awhile.

Fumbling away a win at Cincinnati last week has left the Browns, arguably the NFL’s biggest surprise of 2007, in a vulnerable position heading into their season finale at home against the San Francisco 49ers.

Even if they win, the Browns (9-6) need Tennessee (9-6) to lose at Indianapolis tonight in order to make the AFC playoffs for the first time since 2002 and for only the second time since their 1999 expansion revival.

Cleveland can also lose and still make the postseason as a wild card, but that will require a tie by the Titans and Colts. That’s a long shot, but so too were the Browns when the season kicked off way back in September.

For Browns center Hank Fraley, there’s only one certainty about an unusual, climactic day of this regular season.

“It will be the first time I’ve ever rooted for the Colts,” he said.

Cleveland fans, too, will be pulling for Peyton Manning and the rest of Indianapolis’ starters to build a big lead before Colts coach Tony Dungy begins sending in his backups, which could happen as early as the first quarter.

It didn’t have to be this difficult for the Browns, who would have secured a spot in the postseason with a win over the Bengals, their cross-state rivals. Instead, a 19-14 loss has put them in peril.

“We had an opportunity to close the playoffs out and get the wild card, but we didn’t handle our business,” Browns running back Jamal Lewis said. “We have no one to blame but ourselves.”

Much of the postgame criticism was directed at quarterback Derek Anderson, the 24-year-old gunslinger who had been brilliant before throwing a season-high four interceptions in the biggest game of his career.

The Browns, though, are counting on Anderson to bounce back against the 49ers.

“I expect to see the same old D.A., throw the ball around and wing it,” Fraley said. “We had a couple bad breaks, a couple turnovers. We had chances to overcome those turnovers and get back on top and didn’t take advantage of it.

“Everybody wants to point a finger at Derek, but there’s 60 or 70 plays a game. We win and lose as a team, it’s not just one guy here. It gets pointed out because you’re the quarterback. We as a team lost that game.”

At least the Browns have a healthy quarterback — or two. The 49ers (5-10) enter the finale of their fifth straight losing season with major QB issues.

Shaun Hill, a longtime backup who didn’t throw his first pass in an NFL game until earlier this month, missed some practice time with back spasms. Hill has led the 49ers to consecutive wins over Cincinnati and Tampa Bay, but he took a hard hit on a scramble against the Buccaneers and was still showing signs from the punishing earlier this week.

If Hill can’t play, the 49ers will turn to Chris Weinke, the 2000 Heisman Trophy winner and former Carolina quarterback who is having to cram to learn San Francisco’s playbook.