Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns were founded in 1946 in the All-America Football Conference, a rival league to the established NFL. Named after their legendary coach Paul Brown, the franchise didn't just compete in the AAFC — it annihilated it. The Browns won every AAFC championship in the league's four-year existence, compiling a staggering 47-4-3 record.

Paul Brown was a revolutionary figure who essentially invented modern football coaching. He was the first to use film study, the first to develop a sophisticated playbook, the first to employ full-time assistant coaches, and among the first to sign Black players — most notably Marion Motley and Bill Willis in 1946, a year before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier. Quarterback Otto Graham was the on-field extension of Brown's genius, executing the complex passing game with precision and flair.

The AAFC folded after the 1949 season, and skeptics assumed the Browns would be humbled when they joined the NFL. They were spectacularly wrong.

In their first NFL game in 1950, the Browns demolished the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles 35-10 on national television, silencing every critic who had dismissed the AAFC as a minor league. Cleveland went on to appear in the NFL Championship Game in each of their first six seasons, winning three (1950, 1954, 1955). Otto Graham retired after the 1955 title with an unmatched legacy: ten consecutive championship game appearances and seven league titles.

The post-Graham era brought Jim Brown, widely considered the greatest football player who ever lived. Drafted sixth overall in 1957 out of Syracuse, Brown was a force of nature — 6'2", 232 pounds of explosive power who led the league in rushing in eight of his nine seasons. He never missed a game due to injury. The Browns won the NFL Championship in 1964, with Brown rushing for 114 yards in a 27-0 shutout of the Baltimore Colts.

Then, at the peak of his powers, Jim Brown retired to pursue an acting career. He was 29 years old, the all-time leading rusher, and arguably the most dominant player in the history of team sports. His departure marked the end of the Browns' golden age.

The post-Jim Brown era was defined by tantalizing proximity to greatness — and the cruelest possible endings. The Browns remained competitive for decades, making the playoffs regularly and producing stars like Leroy Kelly, Brian Sipe, and Bernie Kosar. But championships eluded them with a consistency that bordered on the supernatural.

Brian Sipe's "Kardiac Kids" of 1980 won the AFC Central behind a series of heart-stopping comeback victories, only to see their season end when Sipe was intercepted in the end zone against the Raiders in the playoffs. Then came the Kosar era, which produced three AFC Championship appearances between 1986 and 1989 — and three devastating losses. "The Drive" in 1987, when John Elway marched the Broncos 98 yards in the final minutes to tie the game, and "The Fumble" in 1988, when Earnest Byner fumbled at the goal line with a minute remaining, are among the most painful moments in the history of any franchise in any sport.

Then came the ultimate betrayal. On November 6, 1995, Art Modell announced he was relocating the Browns to Baltimore. The city of Cleveland, one of the most passionate football cities in America, was losing its team. The ensuing outcry was so fierce that the NFL agreed to keep the Browns' name, colors, and history in Cleveland, with the promise that an expansion franchise would return by 1999. But the damage was done — the heart of a city had been ripped out.

The Browns returned to the NFL as an expansion franchise in 1999, but the product on the field bore little resemblance to the proud franchise of the past. Expansion drafts and a depleted roster produced years of losing that would have tested the faith of any fan base. The Browns cycled through quarterbacks with a frequency that became a national punchline — Tim Couch, Kelly Holcomb, Jeff Garcia, Trent Dilfer, Charlie Frye, Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn, Colt McCoy, Brandon Weeden, Jason Campbell, Brian Hoyer, Johnny Manziel, and more, all came and went without solving the position.

The coaching carousel was equally dizzying. Chris Palmer, Butch Davis, Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Pat Shurmur, Rob Chudzinski, Mike Pettine, Hue Jackson — each was supposed to turn things around, and none did. Jackson's tenure was particularly brutal, as the Browns went 0-16 in 2017 — only the second team in NFL history to lose every game in a season.

Through it all, the fans remained. The Dawg Pound, the raucous bleacher section at the old Municipal Stadium that carried over to FirstEnergy Stadium, never stopped barking. The loyalty of Cleveland's fan base during this period was one of the most remarkable displays of devotion in professional sports.