An open letter to Browns head coach Hue Jackson:

First of all, welcome to the Browns.

Welcome to Cleveland.

Welcome to Northeast Ohio.

Welcome to a biggest challenge of your life.

And welcome to the opportunity of a lifetime.

That’s where you’re at right now.

Cleveland is a great place, and very underrated. The people are its strength. They are fantastic. And there are a lot of things to do here.

Ditto for the region overall. You’ll fall in love with it.

As for the fans, these are the best around, bar none. Remember, they fought to get their team back. They fought city hall and won, so to speak. No one – but no one – has done that. They are the epitome of passion like you’ve never seen before. As former Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano always likes to say, “When things are going well, they are never better than they are in Cleveland.”

And while the Cavaliers and Indians have a lot of positives, they pale in comparison to the Browns. This a football town, pure and simple. It always has been, and always will be.

I’m not telling you anything in saying that the Browns have been down for a long time, in fact ever since they came back into the NFL in 1999. This expansion era has been an unmitigated disaster.

But at the same time, because this is a football town with the very best bunch of fans anywhere, if you can turn the Browns back into a winner, then you’ll be the talk of the town. You’ll be the king. You’ll never pay for a meal here – or for anything else, for that matter.

The main purpose of my letter incorporates all the issues I’ve talked about, and something more. It is something personal, but it is not unique. You could get this from thousands upon thousands of people in this area.

It is that I’m hoping – greatly so – that you can fix my football team. Yes, that’s right, MY football team.

I’ve covered the Browns professionally for a long time, and as such I’m paid to be objective. That’s my job. That’s where my head is. It’s where it has to be.

But my heart is still that of a fan. The last thing I did with my dad in his hospital room before he died was watch a Browns game. I got my love of the Browns from him. He was a big fan of the team ever since its inception in 1946. He was the age of a lot of the first players. If he been hot on carpentry or accounting, then I’d be a junkie in those two areas. But he loved football and the Browns, and I loved him, so I root for this team to win every game. When they do, it’s a good day. And when they don’t, it’s not. It’s really no more complicated than that.

Everybody – from talk show hosts to comedians to one of the writers in the devotional book that I read every day — makes jokes about the Browns, which is hard to take. It’s a kick to the gut. It’s a roundhouse to my pride.

The Browns are one of the cornerstone franchises in pro football – a lot of today’s game traces back to the Browns and a man you know from having been with the Cincinnati Bengals, Paul Brown — but because it’s been a while since they’ve been good, no one remembers that now.

The expansion-era Browns have turned their fortunes over to a lot of different people, most of whom have done a terrible job. But I have a feeling that you’re the coach who is going to get this thing turned around. I really do.

There are tons of people like me counting on you. Like I said, it is personal with us. It really means something. It is much more fun watching and writing about wins and title chases than it is all the travails that have gone on for all but two of the last 17 seasons.

Good luck.

And one more thing: Don’t listen to any of us in the media.

Sincerely,
Steve King