Cleveland, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – The NFL is celebrating its centennial during the 2019 season, and on Sunday the Browns celebrated one of their own.
It took 20 years, 11 months and 331 games to do it, but light the candles, pop the bubbly and celebrate because the longest climb ever to triple digits in the win column is finally over.
Sunday’s 41-24 victory over the Dolphins was the 100th in the dreadfully embarrassingly awful expansion era of the once proud franchise that saw Hall of Famer Jim Brown and Paul Brown honored as the first 2 names unveiled on the NFL 100 list Friday night.
Cleveland’s football club, named after the most innovative coach in league history, was once the bedrock of the league, and set the standard for winning too.
What the New England Patriots are to the modern game, the Browns were to the pre-Super Bowl era.
The expansion Browns, who’ve set the standard for losing since the turn of the century, are now the proud owners of 100 wins, 230 losses and a tie since returning to the NFL.
The original Browns were the Paul Browns, this expansion imitation of them has been the Charlie Browns. Good Grief.
But maybe not for much longer.
The trouncing of Miami was also significant because it also resuscitated the team’s playoff hopes the seemed to die a painful death a month ago in Denver when a 24-19 loss to the Broncos dropped them to an inexplicable 2-6.
Following wins over the Bills, Steelers and now Dolphins, the Browns head to Pittsburgh next week with a chance to climb to .500 at 6-6, and tie the longest winning streak in the expansion era set at the end of the 2009 season that saved Eric Mangini’s job for 1 more year and 4 in a row.
Cleveland holds the longest playoff drought in the NFL, which will likely extend to 17 seasons unless they stretch their win streak to 8 games.
That would be an historic achievement because the last time the Browns won 5 straight you have to go back to 1994. 1972 marks the last 6-game win streak.
We’re talking half a century having passed for an 8-gamer, but anything is possible.
When the dust settled Sunday, the Browns found themselves just 1 game out of the second AFC Wild Card slot.
3 down, 5 to more go to January football and that win meter hitting 105.
