While some say that the New England Patriots are the definition of consistency in the NFL, we beg to differ. There is one team that is even more consistent than the Bill Belichick, Tom Brady led Pats’ dynasty – the lowly Cleveland Browns. Funnily enough, Bill Belichick has the most coaching wins for the Cleveland Browns in the last 30 years.
The Browns have gone through the cycle of at one point being an NFL powerhouse team to now being consistently in the league basement. Making jokes about the Browns has almost become low-hanging fruit at this point, it’s not even fair how much their franchise and fan base has had to go through. To put it into perspective, we’ve put together a list of five mind-blowing stats to illustrate just how hard it’s been on the Ohio organization.
1. Last time they won a game on Sunday, Johnny Manziel was their starting quarterback
Sunday is sacred amongst NFL fans due the fact that almost all games take place on the day. Other that two games per week saved for Thursday and Monday, and a few Saturday games and Thanksgiving specials mixed in, all NFL action happens on Sunday. This makes it all the more shocking that the Browns have not won a game on Sunday since the notorious Johnny Football was under centre on December 13, 2015. Manziel threw for 270 yards while racking up one touchdown and one interception in the process. The leading receiver in the game was Brian Hartline (107 yards).
2. If you were to compile Browns’ wins over the past three calendar years, they would only surpass five teams in this year’s Standings that are only two-thirds complete
Every NFL team has played 11 games this year (with the exception of the Cowboys and Redskins who just played their 12th on Thursday). In this time that works out to be approximately two-thirds of an NFl season, all but six teams have managed to win at least four of those 11 games. The only teams that join the 0-11 Browns are the 49ers, the Giants, the Bears, the Broncos, and the Colts – each of whom have at least won one game. What is even more shocking is that if you compile Browns’ wins over the past three calendar years (including the final third of the 2014 season), you will find four wins. You will find their fifth latest win on November 23, 2014, in a 26-24 squeaker over the Atlanta Falcons - this was the last game Josh Gordon suited up for them.
3. In those four wins, the Browns have only scored 34 points more than their opponent.
This means that even when they won, they did not win handily. Their biggest win in this time was by 14 points, with an average point differential of 8.5 points – just over a one-possession game. No blowouts to report here.
4. In the last 20 years that they competed, the Browns have two winning seasons.
And only three in the past 25. The Browns’ only winning seasons in the last 20 years of competing happened in 2007 (10-6, missed playoffs), and in 2002 when they went 9-7 (should we mention that 9-7 is the lowest possible record to still be called a winning season?) and went on to lose in the wild card game against their division-rival Steelers.
5. Since their last playoff season in 2002, the Browns have had 25 quarterbacks start a game.
While most teams have quarterbacks that stretch over years, or even have backups that consistently man the bench for a team, the Browns have had an average of almost two new quarterbacks starting for their team per season. During this time, they did not have one quarterback start in more than three seasons (although Tim Couch did have a five-season start streak that carried over into the 2002 season).
Who knows, maybe the return of Josh Gordon will help to turn things around?
