For the past two decades, the Browns have
been bad. Very bad. Very, very bad. Very,
very, very bad. (We can go on, but you
get the picture.)
The team has had just two
winning seasons since 1994, much
to the dismay of their notoriously
rowdy fans in the Dawg Pound.
Three years ago they were
1–15. Hue Jackson, who was
then the team’s coach,
vowed there would be no
repeat: “We’re not going
to do that [again]. We
can stop right there.
I’m not doing that.
We’re not going 1–15.
No. I’ll be swimming
in the lake over there
or somewhere. That’s
not happening.”
He was right, it
didn’t happen again.
The team went 0–16 the following year,
becoming just the second team in league
history to go winless in a 16-game season.
Jackson made good on his promise by
jumping into Lake Erie in an effort to “cleanse”
the team.
All of that losing, though, is finally paying off.
Much like the Philadelphia 76ers turned years of
terrible records into a stockpile of draft selections
and became one of the NBA’s brightest teams,2019 PREVIEW
PICTURE
PERFECT
Beckham (13) and
Landry are in an ideal
situation. They’ve
dreamed of playing
together for years.Photograph by
GREG NELSON