THE LAST OF THIS LOUSY LIST
By STEVE KING
The Buffalo Bills, who visit the Browns on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium, are a key part of the re-born franchise’s list of bad seasons coming on the heels of good seasons that had, as it turned out, inspired false hope.
This is Part 4 – the final chapter – of a woebegone list in Browns history:
*2002-03 – The Browns last made the playoffs in 2002, and they did so in a dramatic way, holding on to defeat the Atlanta Falcons 24-16 at Cleveland Browns Stadium to finish 9-7 and then waiting to find out that the late games went their way, allowing them to sneak in as a wild card on tie-breakers. They then were ahead of the host Pittsburgh Steelers by a whopping 24-7 early in the third quarter in their wild-card playoff game before somehow finding a way to lose the lead and the game, 36-33. Still, that postseason berth inspired optimism for the following season, even after head coach Butch Davis sent packing in the offseason a bunch of valuable veterans who had been instrumental to the run – no pun intended there, William Green – to the playoffs. The 2003 season ended with a 5-11 record, but it took a while for the Browns to get there. With Kelly Holcomb and Tim Couch splitting the quarterback duties, the offense sputtered badly and was the real reason why, after a 3-3 start, the Browns then lost eight of their next nine.
*2007-08 – Regarding the Bills, the Browns’ 8-0 win over them during a veritable blizzard at Cleveland was the poster-child for the 2007 season. No matter what happened with anything, the Browns found a way to work through it and win the game. They result was a 10-6 finish – still their best record of the expansion era – and a near-miss in terms of making the playoffs. They lost the AFC North title to Pittsburgh on tie-breakers, and the final wild-card playoff spot to the Tennessee Titans on tie-breakers. Ouch. Similar to the situation in 2019, the Browns entered the 2008 season as the hottest team in the NFL. They had five – count ’em, five – national TV appearances. But it was a nightmare. The Browns lost their first three games, won two, lost one and then won one to stand 3-4. But they dropped eight of their last nine – the only victory coming by 29-27 at Buffalo on Monday Night Football — to finish 5-11, causing head coach Romeo Crennel to get fired.
And there you have it, the last of this lousy list. Let’s hope something happens in these final nine games to change this season’s narrative.
