For the past couple of weeks, I’ve had a bunch of fun referring to the Ravens’ upcoming Monday night game against the hapless Cleveland Browns as Baltimore’s “second bye week.”

I joked about it in this space. I got a few cheap chuckles when I mentioned it during my weekly spot on 98 Rock’s pre-game show on Sunday. And last weekend, I almost impressed an attractive female Ravens fan when I busted out the line at a party.

Almost.

But after the Ravens were dismantled in Cincinnati, their fourth loss in five games, what looked like an open date on Baltimore’s slate is suddenly no laughing matter. If the 4-4 Ravens overlook the 1-7 Browns, the laughingstock of the NFL, they can say sayonara, au revoir, goodbye — or, if you prefer, kiss da baby — to the playoffs.

Even if you’re huffing insane amounts of nitrous oxide, there is nothing funny about that.

Now the Browns? That whole organization leaves me in stitches.

They fired hard-working G.M. George Kokinis, a former Ravens exec, after nine months on the job. Their head coach, Eric Mangini, is a maniacal, overrated blunderkind who could and should be the next one to get the axe. Last month, they traded away their best player, wideout Braylon Edwards. And they still can’t decide on a quarterback.

Mangini said Wednesday that Brady Quinn will get the start at QB over Derek Anderson, but why bother making it such a spectacle at this point? They have different playing styles, but they’re both awful.

Former Ravens running back Jamal Lewis, now with the Browns, said two weeks ago that he’ll retire at the end of the season. But the Browns are so much of a clown show, no one would have blamed him for hanging up his cleats right then and there.

But even if Cleveland is the league’s most dysfunctional organization, the Browns aren’t the worst team talent-wise in the NFL (they are in the running, though). They’ve got good players such as Joe Thomas, Shaun Rogers and Joshua Cribbs, who will be fired up for an AFC North game. Make no mistake, the Browns are capable of knocking off their divisional rivals.

I know what you’re thinking: There’s no way the Ravens will lose. But I wouldn’t rule anything out after Sunday’s Sarah-Jessica-Parker-ugly loss to the Bengals that punctuated their lackluster first half with a giant question mark. An upset isn’t likely, but funnier things have happened.

Hopefully, for their sake, the Ravens will flip their switch to must-win mode Monday night. They can’t afford to get off to another slow start, and they have to find a way to get back into a groove in all three phases of the game with an effort resembling their 30-7 win over the undefeated Broncos.

But most important, they just need a “W.”

Because if the Ravens fumble away this gimme game to drop further out of the playoff picture, the rest of the AFC contenders will have quite a chuckle at their expense.

And no one will be laughing around here.

Matt Vensel is a content creator for b. E-mail him at matt@bthesite.com.

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