It’s another dark day in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Cleveland Browns lost another heartbreaker Monday night to the Baltimore Ravens after St. Peter’s Prep product Will Hill returned a blocked field goal for a game-winning touchdown as time expired.
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It would be bad enough if that was the worst moment in Brown’s history, but, sadly, it might not come close. Here’s a look at some of the worst moments in the history of the tortured franchise.
Art Modell moves the Browns to Baltimore
Art Modell is going to appear on this list several times and it’s fitting, because since LeBron James made his return, Modell is without question the most hated man in the Ohio city.
Modell – an advertising executive from Brooklyn – bought the team in 1961, and after three more decades as a competitive team, Modell decided to move the team to Baltimore.
The Indians shared Cleveland Stadium with the Browns and Modell refused to share suite revenue that came from both baseball and football games. The Indians eventually left for a new modern ballpark and that coupled with rising player and staff salaries led to significant financial losses for Modell.
He then requested $175 million in tax dollars to refurbish the old stadium, but before the vote even took place Modell announced the move. The next day the city voted to approve the refurbishment.
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1980s Denver Broncos
The Browns were an elite team in the late 1980s and made it to three AFC Championship games from 1985-1989, but every time they ran into the Broncos.
The 1986 game saw the Browns leading Denver going into the final minutes of the fourth quarter, but a John Elway touchdown with 34 second left capped off what has become known as “The Drive” … a 98-yard march at Cleveland Municipal Stadium to tie the game. The Broncos would win the game in OT.
The next year, the Browns reached the eight-yard line trailing Denver by a touchdown late in the fourth at Mile High Stadium. They handed the ball off to Earnest Byner, and with nothing but daylight in front of him, he was stripped by an arm-tackling Jeremiah Castle. The play became known simply as “The Fumble.”
After two years apart, the two teams found themselves facing off in the 1989 AFC Championship. No gutwrenching moments for Cleveland fans this time as Denver didn’t need last-minute heroics in a 37-21 win.
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Jim Brown’s retirement
The Browns drafted Jim Brown in 1957 and he still remains their best player, even though his career only lasted for nine seasons.
Upon his retirement, still with plenty of NFL miles left, Brown held several league records including career rushing touchdowns and yards. Brown left Cleveland to start his second career as an actor. His bruising style of play made him a fan favorite and he remains an icon in Cleveland … and a symbol of what might have been.
The Helmet Toss
The 2002 season got off to a rocky start for the Browns. The Browns were holding on to a 39-37 lead over the Kansas City Chiefs late in the fourth quarter. With less than 10 seconds on the clock linebacker Dwayne Rudd celebrated prematurely, removed his helmet and was flagged.
The penalty got the Chiefs to the 13-yard line and Mort Anderson booted a field goal to give the Chiefs the 40-39 victory.
Firing Bill Belichick
Bill Belichick got his first head coaching gig in Cleveland in 1991 and compiled a 36-44 record in five seasons. When Modell announced the move to Baltimore, Belichick was sent packing.
He eventually landed in New England with the Patriots and is now one of the best coaches of all time.
2002 Playoff loss vs. Steelers
In 2002 the Browns compiled a 9-7 record and found themselves in the playoffs. In the wild card round they took on the division rival Pittsburgh Steelers.
Leading by 10 going into the fourth quarter things were looking good for Cleveland, but Pittsburgh came back and finished off the Browns with a late touchdown drive that left the Browns with less than a minute on the clock. Pittsburgh won the game 36-33.
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Drafting Tim Couch
Kentucky Wildcats quarterback Tim Couch was highly regarded when the 1999 draft came around: the All-American and first-team SEC athlete looked like a star.
But in five NFL seasons, Couch threw 64 touchdowns and 67 interceptions; a broken leg in 2002 ruined his chance at returning as a starter and he left football in 2003.
Even worse for Browns fans: the No. 2 pick in the 1999 draft was Donovan McNabb, who led the Eagles to four consecutive NFC East division championships, five NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl.
“Draft Day” starring Kevin Costner
One of the corniest movies of all time finds Kevin Costner as GM of the Cleveland Browns wheeling and dealing on NFL draft day.
It should be enough that Cleveland fans have to suffer through every losing season, but for director Ivan Reitman to make audiences sit through 1 hour and 45 minutes of this movie should be considered cruel and unusual.
Art Modell firing Paul Brown
Cleveland coach Paul Brown – the team’s namesake – was never known as a player’s coach, but he helped revolutionize football, including using game film to scout opponents, hiring a full-time staff of assistants and testing players on the playbook. He also invented the modern face mask, the taxi squad, the draw play and brought some of the first African-American players into pro football.
But his reluctance to allow his players imput into play calls and refusal to include Modell in personnel decisions didn’t go over well with the Browns front office, and he was fired in 1963.
Considered one of the most lopsided trades in football history, the Browns swapped wide reciever Paul Warfield to the Miami Dolphins in 1970. In return, Cleveland got a draft pick, which they used for Purdue University All-American quarterback Mike Phipps.
Phipps achieved marginal success with the Browns, passing for 7,700 yards and 40 touchdowns in seven years and taking them to the playoffs in 1972.
Warfield, on the other hand, became one of the best in the game as he played a major role in the Dolphins championships in the undefeated 1972 season and 1973.
Ernie Davis dies of leukemia
Drafted as the No. 1 pick by Washington out of Syracuse University in 1961, then immediately traded to the Browns, halfback Ernie Davis had a promising future ahead of him in Cleveland. The first African American player to win a Heisman Trophy, Davis led Syracuse to a national championship as a sophomore in 1959, earning himself the nickname “Elmira Express.”
After refusing to play for racist Washington owner George Preston Marshall, Davis signed a three-year, $200,000 contract with the Browns in December 1961.
But he never saw the field with his new team: Davis was diagnosed with leukemia in the summer of 1962. Despite Modell’s insistence that he was healthy enough to play, coach Paul Brown kept Davis off the field, only allowing him to practice and help draw up game plans.
Davis died a year later, in May 1963, at the age of 23. He never played in the NFL.
