The Cleveland Browns have had very few good days in their franchises recent history. The Browns were not always so inept; in fact, they were regarded as the team of the 1950's when Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown made defenses look silly while he plowed through them. There were the good days of Brian Sipe, who almost took the Browns to the Super Bowl if not for a bad pass on the Raiders goal line in the early 1980's. Bernie Kosar led the team to three out of four AFC championship games in the late 80's. The 1990's were a hard decade as the team struggled to make the playoffs and as bad as that was, it did get much worse. One day, Browns fans woke up and saw that there was no longer a football team in Cleveland.

Art Modell took the team to Baltimore and finally felt the embrace of a Super Bowl Title. The NFL made sure to bring back the historic Cleveland Browns franchise by the late 90's. The franchise was brought back but it has been a futile return. One playoff appearance, no playoff wins and very uncompetitive teams.

There was a good day on draft day 2007 when shrewd business dealings brought the Browns two top five caliber picks. It was the first day of hope for the franchise that was bitten with the bad luck bug. The joy of that day was lessened by the holdout of Brady Quinn and further forgotten in a 34-7 beating at the hands of their bitter rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Will the Cleveland Browns ever stop losing? They are putting the pieces in place. It looks like they will be firing their coach, Romeo Cronnell, since he has not produced with inferior talent. Continuity is vital in every franchises ultimate success. The longer key pieces are kept in place, the better the opportunities will become. The Browns have failed to get a core of solid NFL players that can keep the team competitive from one week to the next. Until they can compete with the organization of the Patriots and the talent of the Colts then they will always be a year or two away.

Learn more about this author, Dan Smith.
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