There are some interesting subplots for the Cleveland Browns heading into their Week 2 matchup at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The biggest one, obviously, is former Browns No. 1 pick Baker Mayfield suiting up at quarterback for the Bucs and looking for his first career win against his former team.
The Browns cast Mayfield aside years ago to clear space for the Deshaun Watson trade, which has gone about as poorly as anybody could have expected. With another poor performance, this Sunday could be it for Watson as a starting quarterback for not only the Browns, but in the NFL entirely, and it would be quite the feather in Mayfield’s cap if he turns out to be the one to officially close that chapter.
An even crazier subplot is the fact that this Sunday is the NFL’s first-ever Todd Bowl, as FOX Sports’ Greg Auman pointed out that the head coaching matchup between Todd Monken and Todd Bowles is the first ever battle of two head coaches named Todd.
“Important note: Sunday’s Bucs-Browns game is the first NFL game to have two head coaches named Todd — Bowles and Monken — facing each other. Just missed in 2011 — Dolphins and Chiefs played with Todd Haley as K.C. coach, but Bowles wasn’t the interim coach yet that season,” said Auman.
Important note: Sunday's Bucs-Browns game is the first NFL game to have two head coaches named Todd — Bowles and Monken — facing each other.
Just missed in 2011 — Dolphins and Chiefs played with Todd Haley as K.C. coach, but Bowles wasn't the interim coach yet that season.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) September 18, 2026
With many insiders believing Bowles was going to get fired this past offseason and others seeing this Browns season as a potential one-and-done for Monken, this may be the first and last Todd Bowl for a long time, but hopefully both coaches can hang on much longer. Monken especially deserves more time because it would be disingenuous to make him the fall guy for this potentially disastrous season.
If you needed another Todd fact, Monken is the Browns first head coach named Todd, and not only that, but every head coach in Browns history has had a unique name. The franchise has had 23 different head coaches with 23 different first names. Imagine that.
Todd facts are fun and all, but not as fun as winning. This team needs to pull an upset in the worst way ahead of the Week 3 home opener, where there will be a mutiny waiting if the 0-2 Browns come back home with Watson still starting at quarterback.
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