"It's time we grow up," he told reporters in the Browns' locker room after a 28-23 loss to the Indianapolis Colts dropped Cleveland to 7-7.

The Browns were only in their fourth season since returning to the NFL, but the team's president was tired of hearing the excuses, tired of hearing the E-word.

"I wasn't criticizing them -- I love them," Policy said Tuesday morning from his office in Berea, Ohio. "I made what I thought were accurate observations of where we were. We could have gone one of two directions after the Colts game. We could have found ourselves creating excuses as to why we didn't make the playoffs -- or will ourselves into the playoffs. If you're unable to call yourself out after a loss that's meaningful, you're never going to get to the next level."

	Thinking he had sacked Chiefs QB Trent Green to end the game on this play, Rudd (57) was quick to celebrate a Browns victory that wasn't.

Policy, whose low threshold of high expectations was developed during the glory days in San Francisco, caused a stir in Cleveland. In retrospect, it is clear he was simply telling the truth.

Eighteen days later, the Cleveland Browns are all grown up and find themselves standing, of all places, at the next level.

After two exhilarating victories, 14-13 at Baltimore and 24-16 over Atlanta last Sunday, the Browns play the Pittsburgh Steelers in an AFC Wild Card game on Sunday. The last time the Browns won a regular-season finale was in 1994, not coincidentally the last time the franchise qualified for the playoffs.

"These guys really followed through and finished," Policy said. "I think they grew up. We're relevant in January.

"It's very gratifying for us. Sunday, at Cleveland Browns Stadium, talking with people with a history with the team, they said it felt like the best of the old days. They said the last time it was like that was the (1986) AFC Championship Game against Denver. The Browns are back and the fans are back with them."

The Browns, who were 2-4 after a loss at Tampa Bay on Oct. 13, had to fight through a chaotic season of peaks and valleys that included the death of owner Alfred Lerner, the celebrated helmet incident involving Dwayne Rudd and the travails of quarterbacks Tim Couch and Kelly Holcomb. After beating Atlanta, the Browns got news of New England's victory over Miami in overtime and then were forced to wait another three hours to learn that they had, courtesy of the New York Jets, made the playoffs. That the Browns, the unlikeliest of visitors to the playoffs, are still playing is entirely appropriate in this muddled, field-leveling NFL season.

"The game was a microcosm of the whole season," said head coach Butch Davis. "What can you say?"

Cleveland trailed Atlanta 16-10 before scoring two fourth-quarter touchdowns. The Falcons had a first-and-goal at the Cleveland 4-yard liine, but the Browns stopped Atlanta all four times, the last coming when Earl Holmes dropped Warrick Dunn inches from the end zone with 23 seconds left.

Incredibly, it was the 12th Browns game of the season decided in the final minute. That's 12 out of 16 -- three out of every four. In fact, no fewer than 19 of Davis' 32 games have come down to that final 60 seconds. The former University of Miami coach is now 16-16 in the NFL -- and the Browns seem to have finally rid themselves of the crutch of the expansion label.

"It was all a part of the Days of our Lives, '02," Policy said, laughing.

In a real sense, the season has been a relentless succession of surreal soap opera storylines:

The Headless Horseman
The reporter has asked Policy to walk him through the emotions of Sunday's game against the Falcons when the president interrupts him.

"Whoa. Why go to the Atlanta game?" Policy asked. "Go back to the beginning of the season, the level of emotion in that very first game. You're winning a duel and you're sensing that the player got the quarterback sacked and the game is over. You've won the game. You're ready to see all the good things unfold in front of you in '02, and then you see the yellow flag."

The unnamed player was, of course, linebacker Dwayne Rudd. He was forever scarred when he ripped off his helmet toward the end of that Sept. 8 opening game against Kansas City. He thought he had ended the game with a sack, but he was wrong. The quarterback escaped and Rudd was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. On the toe of Morten Andersen, the Chiefs escaped with a 40-39 victory.

"That started a whole year," Policy said, "that felt like we were going through a combination of shock treatment, psycho therapy and an Outward Bound experience."

When Rudd made two big stops in the Browns' heroic goal-line stand against Atlanta on Sunday a seriously strange circle was completed.

Backup plan
In six previous NFL seasons, Kelly Holcomb had thrown exactly 85 passes, completing 52. Five of those seasons were in Indianapolis, where he was a backup to Jim Harbaugh and Peyton Manning. Not a bad little career for a graduate of Middle Tennessee State and the Barcelona Dragons of the World League.

But when the Browns' fourth season opened against Kansas City it was Holcomb -- not Tim Couch, the first overall choice in the 1999 draft -- who was the starting quarterback. Couch was still recovering from an elbow injury and Holcomb was spectacular, completing 27 of 39 for 326 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions in that brutal loss to the Chiefs. Holcomb was solid the next week in a win over the Bengals, throwing for two more touchdowns and no interceptions.

Still, Couch returned for the third and fourth games, going 1-1 and throwing 3 touchdowns, balanced by 3 interceptions. The following week, there would be a memorable meltdown on Oct. 6 against the Baltimore Ravens.

	“	It's very gratifying for us. Sunday, at Cleveland Browns Stadium, talking with people with a history with the team, they said it felt like the best of the old days. ”
		— Browns president Carmen Policy

Boo-hoo
The Ravens were mashing the Browns, 23-8 in the fourth quarter, when Baltimore linebacker Peter Boulware came calling.

"I got hit in the back of the head," Couch explained later. "Next thing I remember, the fans are cheering when I'm laying on the field hurt. And I think that's (expletives deleted), to be honest with you.

"For them to turn on me and boo me in my home stadium is a joke. It's a (expletive) joke to me. It's hard to take, man."

Couch, who had suffered a mild concussion, seemed to be blinking back the tears in the Browns' locker room. It was a rough day all around. He had completed 16 of 26 passes but had thrown 2 interceptions and 1 touchdown pass. It got worse when Holcomb rallied the Browns, only to fall short, 26-21.

Problem was, Holcomb suffered a hairline fracture of his tibia and knee ligament damage.

Couch played the rest of the season, until the first play of the second quarter against Atlanta. He suffered a broken fibula and Holcomb was forced to take over. Holcomb wasn't great (7-for-14, 86 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs), but his team won. Now, the Browns II will play their first postseason game without their franchise player.

"It's terrible," Holcomb said. "You don't want anybody to get hurt and it's unfortunate for him. He's been the guy all year and I know he feels terrible about this. I know how he feels.

"But I've got to be ready. It's a one-game season now."

Void at the top
Just over four years into their reincarnation in Cleveland, the Browns lost owner Al Lerner. He died on Oct. 23 after a long battle with brain cancer. He was 69.

Lerner, worth an estimated $4.3 billion and listed as the 36th wealthiest American by Forbes Magazine, was a controversial figure in Cleveland. The credit card mogul had helped finance Browns owner Art Modell's move to Baltimore after the 1995 season, but three years later he beat out four other would-be ownership groups and paid $530 million for the fledgling franchise -- at the time, the highest price ever for a professional sports franchise.

Lerner did not meddle in football affairs. He hired good people and he spent lavishly to provide the city with an entertaining product. At the outset, Lerner hired Policy to run his team, who in turn hired Davis after Chris Palmer went 5-27 in the franchise's first two seasons. Policy and Davis, along with Lerner's son Randy, 40, are the foundation of the future.

"Al Lerner was not only committed, but so smart in the way he approached the building of this franchise," Policy said. "There was nothing that we asked for, designed to help us win, that he didn't provide. The morning after he died, you walked into this building and it was like they sucked the air out of it. An immense spirit was missing."

Running to daylight

	Green

Through the first nine games of the season, rookie running back William Green was a complete bust. The No. 16 overall choice in the draft carried 61 times for 161 yards, a paltry average of 2.6 yards, and a single touchdown.

And then something happened. Several things, actually. The offensive line stabilized. Green found his legs and his confidence. The Browns found themselves. Green's emphatic 27-carry, 178-yard, 2-touchdown effort against the Falcons was the perfect punctuation to his arduous trip to the NFL.

"That's why we took him (in the draft)," Davis said. "Days like (Sunday), (we knew) he could be a horse and if we had to ride him, we could ride him into the end zone and win."

Green's 64-yard touchdown run for the final score was his longest run of the season. His numbers in the last seven games: 172 carries, 726 yards (4.2) and 5 touchdowns. For the first time in four seasons, the Browns aren't last or second-to-last in rushing. They're No. 23 out of 32.

"It wasn't like a switch that went on," Green said. "It was just a matter of my confidence. Once I realized these guys believed in me, once I realized the coaches believed in me, I said, 'You know what? I'm not playing too good right now, and they're still believing in me and giving me the ball.

"I just took it from there."

Hurricane force
Davis was universally hacked a few years ago when he insisted that he wasn't leaving Miami for a professional job -- then decided to take the head coaching position in Cleveland.

His first Browns team wasn't much to look at, but they finished 7-9 and there was modest hope for the future. When Cleveland started out 2-4 this year, Davis was criticized in the media for falling back on the expansion label. Earlier this week, one Cleveland writer broke down the team's meager statistics and said that Davis had pulled off the equivalent of juggling chainsaws.

Davis wasn't around when Couch was the draft's No. 1 pick. Nor did he take defensive end Courtney Brown in the same spot a year later. He endured any number of calamities this season, including the loss of Pro Bowl linebacker Jamir Miller -- the Browns' best player -- in the first preseason game.

"The most important person in a franchise, including ownership and the players as well, is the head coach," Policy said. "Butch Davis has stayed the course. He's been terrific."

Ringing in the new
When the Browns fell to 7-7 and the playoff prospects for the Dolphins and Patriots were looking better than average, many people in Cleveland started thinking about the 2003 season. The Browns, as it turns out, were not among them.

In today's NFL, that's the kind of difference two games can make. The future for this young team - regardless of what happens Sunday in Pittsburgh --looks fairly glowing. And the Atlanta game forever will be seen as the catalyst.

"It was ideal," Policy said. "Not only ideal, but consistent with the season that we would have that kind of ending. Everybody feels better about what we've done and where we're going. You validate the process. It gives you confidence going forward.

"It is looking like '03 is going to be a lot better … thank God." Greg Garber is a senior writer at ESPN.com.