Miami Dolphins coach Nick Saban, apparently still stinging from last Sunday's 22-0 throttling at the hands of the Browns, uttered the unthinkable early in the week.

Saban said that because his team is rebuilding, this season's results don't matter.

On a radio show, legendary former linebacker Chris Spielman said he wanted to reach through the TV and shake some sense into Saban.

But that's what you say when your team has just fallen to 3-7 while failing to score.

When you're 4-6, which the Browns became with that victory, you talk about taking the next step and winning two in a row for the first time this season.

Such is their mind-set entering today's game in the Metrodome against the suddenly surging Minnesota Vikings.

"At least we have some confidence and feel decent about ourselves after the last game," Browns coach Romeo Crennel said. "Now, we have to see if we can continue to perform like that and develop the consistency it takes to be a winner in the NFL."

It won't be easy because the Vikings, after a tumultuous beginning, are playing as if they have signed a blood oath never to lose again. They have won three straight since quarterback Brad Johnson replaced an injured Daunte Culpepper.

Like the Browns and unlike the Dolphins, the Vikings still think something can be gained by winning.

Other than whether a fifth victory looms— one greater than last season's total — the big question for the Browns is whether Crennel can resist the temptation to satisfy his bosses' wishes by continuing to insert backup quarterback Charlie Frye for a series here and there.

Crennel says Frye will play again when his "gut" tells him it's time.

Any doubt about where the pressure is coming on that score was removed Thanksgiving night on the NFL Network show Six Days to Sunday when team owner Randy Lerner is heard to say of the rookie Frye, "I love him."

The rest of the 30-minute show depicted Lerner frolicking with Marines, reviewing the game plan with coaches (scary), walking through the locker room, then nervously viewing the Dolphins game in a crowded luxury suite with Jim Brown and team president John Collins.

Crennel, meanwhile, spent the week trying to say there is no quarterback controversy while starter Trent Dilfer was still in a snit, emphasizing how much he disagreed with being benched — twice — in favor of a rookie.

No controversy? At his Monday press conference, about the time Saban was stressing the meaninglessness of it all, Crennel fielded 38 questions, 29 of which in some way or another concerned either Dilfer or Frye.

The Vikings can expect heavy doses of running back Reuben Droughns, who needs 132 yards to become the first Cleveland back in two decades to reach 1,000. Conversely, the Browns, who still give up too much yardage on the ground, must contend with the speedy Mewelde Moore.

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