(Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images)

The Cleveland Browns’ rise to one of the best teams in the NFL has been nothing short of historic.

They started four different quarterbacks this year before locking up the No. 5 seed with veteran Joe Flacco under center, and will now play one of three teams in the wildcard round: The Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, or the Jacksonville Jaguars.

But first, the Browns have one regular season game left on their schedule against the Cincinnati Bengals during which they’ll start a fifth different quarterback – Jeff Driskel – this year to give the 38-year-old Flacco an extra week of rest before the playoffs.

Jeff Driskel will start at quarterback this Sunday@VividSeats | #DawgPound pic.twitter.com/R1ddl0zGgG

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) January 3, 2024

This was always going to be the move for a Cleveland team that has nothing to play for except pride.

With so much adversity at quarterback this year, it would have been foolish for the Browns to risk playing Flacco in a game that would not affect their playoff seeding.

The Browns have also been one of the most injury-riddled teams this season, so benching as many starters as possible would alleviate some worry about the Browns going into the postseason at less than 100 percent.

The Bengals also aren’t playing for anything after being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, so this game is effectively an exhibition match between two teams who want to see how their depth players perform in a true regular season game.

Cleveland, though, gets the benefit of knowing a playoff game remains on their schedule after this weekend, while Cincinnati knows they’ll remain home and begin their offseason work after the game ends.

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