The Browns’ Curse Countdown
Countdown of the team’s Top Ten failures
Year after year, the Cleveland Browns have been at a loss on how to break the Cleveland Curse. The football team has been unable to win an NFL championship since 1964, and this year will not be any different. Before the season ends, let’s countdown some of their legendary moments…
- There is no one more loyal — or more naive — than a true Browns Fan, one who clings to the hope that the team will win again; who goes to every game; who cheers his team on with no shame. Sometimes, though, even the fans can’t be counted on, as shown in the October 30 game: DAWG POUND, or should we say, GPODAWUND.
- Toilet paper isn’t nearly as replaceable as the Cleveland Browns quarterbacks have been. After only the first five games of the season, the team had a different player taking snaps in each one. Since 1999, 26 different quarterbacks have started in Browns’ games. Why? In this season alone, four quarterbacks have been injured with shoulder fractures and knee injuries. In other years, the reason for the constant change were due to problems with team rules (think “Johnny Football,”) or just plain poor performance. Seems as if it’s not just our girls’ Varsity basketball team that suffers from the Injury Curse. Hard to cheer for the quarterback when that role changes every game: “Go Kessler! Wait, no I mean, go Whitehurst! Or was it McCoy? McCown?” Tip: Don’t buy a jersey with a quarterback’s name on it.
- In the fateful 2013 game against the England Patriots, the cursed Browns gave up a 12-point lead with only 1:01 left in the game, and then lost 27-26. It was devastating for many of the fans to see their beloved team lose a game they were so close to winning; to see David lose to Goliath. As if that weren’t enough, the Patriots went on to win the Super Bowl that year. The Patriots were able to turn the game around after recovering their first onside kick since 1994. Just when Browns fans thought even the BROWNS could not mess up THAT victory – the team showed its true greatness – fumbling an onside kick and giving up two touchdowns in only 61 seconds. Who else can do such things?
via GIPHY How the Browns’ season is going right now.
http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2013/12/cleveland_browns_new_england_p.html
- Cleveland football fans had nothing to be thankful for last November 30 when the Browns gave up a 17-6 lead against the Baltimore Ravens. In this Monday-night game, Cleveland attempted a 51-yard field goal — as a final attempt to break the tie — with three seconds left on the clock. Browns fans went to twitter to release their pent-up frustration when the attempt was not only blocked, but returned by the Ravens for a touchdown. “The Block” resulted in a 34-27 loss. http://www.espn.com/nfl/game?gameId=400791561
via GIPHY The Browns versus the Curse, who will win?
- Then there’s this moment. Does it even need any words? Just…why?
- This has been known to fans as the “Year of Contrasts,” seeing as how the Cleveland Cavaliers won their first NBA title and the Cleveland Indians made it to the World Series. Who else but the Browns could have potentially the worst year in the history of the NFL, by not only losing every pre-season game, but every game in the regular season? They even lost their final three games last year. Only a win in their 12th game of 2015 has kept them from having a prolific 27-game losing streak. As of its 13th game, Cleveland has already lost 20 in a row. Only two teams since 1944 have lost every single game of a regular season. The most recent was the Detroit Lions in 2008 (0-16) and then the Tampa Buccaneers in 1976 (0-14). Only the Browns would set a record for futility when the rest of the Cleveland sports world is at their best.
4. “Red Right 88”: The 1981 AFC playoff game Cleveland could have won and then advanced to the Super Bowl. It just wasn’t meant to be; even the weather was against us at four degrees Fahrenheit. This play was conducted in the final minute of the game on the Raiders’ 13-yard line. Quarterback Brian Sipe was told to do a pass play called “Red Slot Right, Halfback Stay, 88.” Basically, if he didn’t have a clear pass, Sipe was to “throw it into Lake Erie” so the Browns could get a field goal. The pass was, of course, intercepted (we ARE talking about the Browns here) resulting in the Oakland Raiders winning 14-12. If the Browns had scored that touchdown they might have not only won the game but gone on to win the Super Bowl, yet the Raiders went on to take home that title instead.
That’s not Lake Erie…
- The Fumble — 1987: The year Cleveland fans were just seconds away from finally making the Super Bowl. It was the AFC Championship between the Denver Broncos and the Cleveland Browns. The game was close, the fans were going crazy, the football team was giving it their all… that was until the Browns’ running back, Ernest Byner, fumbled the ball. He was barely touched on his arm, was practically in the end zone, yet Byner failed to take just one more step WITH the ball on the one-yard line and score the game-tying touchdown. The team lost its momentum in the last minute and missed the chance at playing in the Super Bowl. Needless to say, the Browns lost 38-33. Link to the video: http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-videos/0ap3000000497707/Earnest-Byner-The-Fumble
Moment of silence for Earnest Byner.
- THE DRIVE — Just one year before The Fumble, the Browns played against the Broncos in the AFC Championship. The Broncos’ Elway made a 98-yard drive to score a touchdown in just 5:06, crushing any hope of the Super Bowl for the Cleveland team. The game ended 23-20. That’s two years in a row the Browns almost got into the Super Bowl, only to lose in the final minutes of the game against the Denver Broncos. That makes THREE times that we almost got into the Super Bowl, only to come up short.
via GIPHY Browns fans after the ‘Drive’
- FACTORY OF SADNESS – So many horrible draft picks by the Browns to mention, so little time. For those who don’t know, the teams with the worst record in the NFL get to select players before the better teams, so the worse ones can improve the next season. The first round is the most critical, since it is the best chance to select a superstar. For the last 16 years, the Browns had the best and most frequent opportunities, with 20 first-round Draft picks. So how has the team continued to get worse? Two things: awful draft picks, and The Curse. Even if the team chose a good suitor, The Curse would end their career, as the cases of Tim Couch’s shoulder, Courtney Brown’s knee, Johnny Manziel’s legal and substance issues and, this year, Coleman breaking his hand. Then there are the times the Browns chose Justin Gilbert in the 2014 Draft over Odell Beckham Jr. from the Giants, or Johnny Manziel over Derek Carr from the Raiders or Danny Shelton over Oakland WR Amari Cooper. If THAT proof isn’t convincing enough, just check out this chart on http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/story/cleveland-browns-draft-busts-rob-gronkowski-odell-beckham-leveon-bell-021016 for many, many more Draft picks from the Factory of Sadness from just 2010-2014.
To see any more Browns’ failures or more evidence of their Curse, just turn on the TV and watch the next game; there’s bound to be more to come.
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