Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Do you think think enough time has passed yet to fairly give the new Browns the label as the worst franchise in pro football history? Or do you think they are still too new to be given that label? Really the only teams that could probably compete with them for that label would be the Cardinals and (potentially) the Lions. However I feel like the Browns have been even worse than those two have been but they just havn't been bad for as long yet.


Do you think it would be fair to give the current Browns franchise the label of worst franchise in league history yet since they have only been around for about twenty years now?

I went twice to Cleveland earlier this year and I spoke with some long-time suffering fans, and evryone concurred that the problem is management. It's amazing to see how their top draft picks (except Joe Thomas) don't develop or when they finally duo, they go to another team. I would add that the coaching has been very bad, and I'm amazed how Hue Jackson still has his job.

and I'm amazed how Hue Jackson still has his job.

1-31

I guess the team you can compare them to for now, futility-wise, are the Bucs in their first 19 years; all the way to Dungy. TB had ’79, ’81, and 5-4 strike-shortened 1982 to hang their hats on while Browns got just ’02 and, despite no playoffs, their 10-6 installment of 2007 (Thomas’s rookie year). The ‘winner’ would have to go to Browns between those two.

However, 40 years apart from each other, TB’s back-to-back ’76/’77 output and Cleveland’s ’16/’17 would make for an even-enough debate for “which is worse”?

lastcat3 wrote:Do you think think enough time has passed yet to fairly give the new Browns the label as the worst franchise in pro football history? Or do you think they are still too new to be given that label? Really the only teams that could probably compete with them for that label would be the Cardinals and (potentially) the Lions. However I feel like the Browns have been even worse than those two have been but they just havn't been bad for as long yet.


Do you think it would be fair to give the current Browns franchise the label of worst franchise in league history yet since they have only been around for about twenty years now?

It's kind of interesting to compare the new Browns' 19 seasons so far with the first 19 seasons of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The results are amazingly close.

The Browns are 88-216 so far, a .289 winning percentage; the Bucs were 87-204, a .299 winning percentage.

The average score of a Browns' game is 16.64-23.08, a differential of 6.44 points per game. Amazingly, the Bucs had exactly the same differential! Their average score was 16.08-22.52 in their first 19 seasons.

However, the Bucs were more successful, going to the playoffs three times in those 19 seasons and actually reaching the conference finals in their fourth season. They were 1-3 in the playoffs, while the Browns have lost their only playoff game so far.

Given that the Cardinals have won 2 champions and the Lions have won 4, including 3 in one 6-year stretch, I think we can safely say the new Browns are the worst, at least at this point in their young existence.

In regards to the 76-77 Bucs vs. the 16-17 Browns, I’d have to say the Bucs were faaaaaar worse. The only legitimate argument going the other way would be their performance in the last 2 games of 1977. Their offense was BAD. Horrifically bad. Without looking it up I think their combined TD pass to interception thrown was something like 3-31 in 1977. The first 12 games of that season could possibly be the worst 12 game stretch by any team ever. Granted there were glimmers of hope on defense. The 1942 Lions come to mind as well. The 2016 Browns didn’t “feel” like a 1-15 team (to me at least) as their season was unfolding. They really didn’t get blown out until later on in the year. I actually did predict their lone win vs. the Chargers. A west coast team coming east, in December, already eliminated from playoff contention.

Jackson showed promise his first year in Oakland.

And yes there have been a lot of difficult things and general organizational incompetence he's had to deal with in Cleveland. But 1-31 is inexcusable. I mean it's HARD to do 1-31.

He also lost 4 of his last 5 games in Oakland. 2-35 in his last 37. Unfathomable. After starting out a solid 7-4

I'll pass around a quick little study I did about the worst teams of all time at the event in Buffalo. You'll have to show up to find out about it.

I'll pass around a quick little study I did about the worst teams of all time at the event in Buffalo. You'll have to show up to find out about it.

Keeping with the Buffalo theme I'm sure a few Bills teams show up in your study!

ChrisBabcock wrote:1-31

Also the Browns record in their analytics era.