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led to this unforeseeable reality: The Browns enter 2019
with the sixth-best odds to win Super Bowl LIV. This team
has not only talent in abundance but also an identity that
reflects its city, with a cast-off, nose-to-the-grindstone GM;
a long-toiling, nothing-came-easy coach; an undersized
QB, constantly circling (or inventing) slights; and two
exiled receivers, each looking to reshape his narrative.
It’s no coincidence, those in northern Ohio believe, that
the franchise is coming full circle as the NFL celebrates its
100th anniversary. The league was born an hour south, in
Canton; the state yielded four of the first five champions;
and the Browns were a preeminent early dynasty. Even
after years of heartbreak, after owner Art Modell whisked
the original team away to Baltimore; even after a singular
futility since returning, with just one postseason appear-
ance in two decades, the fans have largely remained.
“It seems Jesus has been at work,” says Hall of Fame
back Jim Brown, who retired shortly after the Browns’ last
title appearance, in 1966. “It is almost like: Cleveland is
Tim Brokaw, a local ad exec, crafted the jersey back in
- There were only 10 names at the beginning, but
the list quickly grew, and so did the attention. Eventually
Brokaw took to displaying the gag uniform on a manne-
quin in a window of his office, across from the Browns’
stadium, where fans would congregate, uniting in their
misery. Soon it began to represent something more.
For so long now it has symbolized this team, this city,
once a ventricle of industrial America, now the brunt of
ubiquitous mockery. In the 20 seasons since the Browns
were reestablished as an expansion franchise, they have
been the least successful, most dysfunctional organiza-
tion in the NFL: a .298 winning percentage, nine general
managers, 11 coaches. Just 18 months ago they were
capping off the worst three-season stretch ever.
But something unimaginable was building in the back-
ground of that pain. Years of concerted demolition followed
by a complete and rapid rebuild, a confluence of events
both savvily plotted and serendipitously stumbled upon,
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED AUGUS T 26–SEP TEM
BER 2, 2019
JORDAN M
URPH
