Where the Browns stand: Wide Receivers
February 12, 2016Man, I Love the Taco Bell NBA All-Star Skills Challenge!
February 12, 2016With the 2015-16 NFL season now officially in the books, we face an opportunity to reflect on those teams that broke playoff droughts (hat tip to Kansas City)1 and those that extended their postseason headaches (oh hey Cincinnati). More importantly, we can see how these struggles and travails match up to our beloved Cleveland Browns.
Note1: Officially, the Browns “suspended operations” for the 1996-1998 seasons. While the team did not take the field, the years still happened so I will be including them in the tallies.
Note2: I will be counting AFL accomplishments since the teams honor those trophies.
Note3: All y-axes are teams and all x-axes are years.
Championship Drought
Longest Drought: Arizona Cardinals (1947, 69 years ago)
Browns Rank: Sixth (1964, 52 years ago)
Browns fans might be surprised to see so many teams with longer championship droughts than the Brown and Orange. The Cardinals (then in Chicago) take the cake for the longest drought. Their time in the championship desert included stays in the Windy City, St. Louis, and now Phoenix. The Lions and Eagles both count their last parade during the Eisenhower Administration. The Titans (nee Houston Oilers) and Chargers both conquered the American Football League in the 1960s, but have yet to claim the same distinction since the leagues merged in 1970.
Conference Championship Drought
Longest Drought: Detroit Lions (1957, 59 years)
Browns Rank: Fourth (1969, 47 years)
Detroit’s football history over the past sixty years reads like a Greek tragedy: poorly run front offices, draft busts, embarrassing collapses, and the unforgettable winless season. It may be surprising then to learn in the 1950s the Lions struck fear into the hearts of their opponents. In 1957 Detroit defeated San Francisco in a Western Division tiebreaker 31-27 before dismantling Cleveland in the title game 59-14. Since then? One playoff victory. The Jets and Chiefs have failed to win a conference since their pre-merger Super Bowl days. In 1969 the Browns won the Eastern Conference before losing to the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL Championship Game.
Division Championship Drought
Longest Drought: Cleveland Browns (1989, 27 years)
In this category, Cleveland stands alone. The Browns have not won their division since 1989. The most recent divisional triumph comes when Cleveland belonged to the AFC Central, comprised of the Browns, Steelers, Bengals, and Houston Oilers. A scant 28 teams populated the league landscape, and Pete Rozelle was commissioner. Simpler times. The Lions and Bills both have twenty-plus year division title droughts as well.
Playoff Appearance
Longest Drought: Buffalo Bills (1999, 17 years)
Browns Rank: Second (2002, 14 years)
Thank goodness for Buffalo. One of the most hard luck franchises in professional football is in the midst of the longest running playoff drought in the game. To make it worse for Bills fans, their last trip to the playoffs came in the infamous Music City Miracle loss to Tennessee. Oakland has not made the playoff since 2002 when they won the AFC. Somehow the club went from Super Bowl to playoff drought with no step down in between. The Browns may not have the worst playoff exile, but fourteen years is a long time for any fanbase to go without the postseason.
Bonus: Last Playoff Victory
Longest Drought: Cincinnati Bengals (1990, 26 years)
Browns Rank: Third (1994, 22 years)
Before you get too upset, here is a quick stat to pick you up. Despite the Browns having not made the playoffs since 2002 and despite not playing for three years in the mid-nineties the Browns still have a more recent playoff victory (1994) than the Cincinnati Bengals (1990) and Detroit Lions (1991). This doesn’t do anything for the club on the field in 2016, but it is a fun bit of trivia if sparring with opposing fans. Every fan for long-suffering teams wear their scars like a badge of honor. Each tries to outdo the other to see who who can conjure the most misery or tell the most somber tale. But every drought had to come from a moment of triumph, some taste of victory. Even if the pictures are in black and white, it is never too late to appreciate greatness.
- Good year in the KC considering that baseball team and all. [↩]
5 Comments
Interesting, thanks for doing the math. I’d be very interested to see how these charts looked in, say, the 80’s, and then see how many teams went on to break their streaks. I wonder how many, if any, teams have endured stretches like ours and then turned it around, and how long that took them. Alas my non-Browns football knowledge only goes back about 15 years- maybe I’ll find the data and waste an afternoon.
Our suckitude is “graphically” confirmed.
https://media.giphy.com/media/vRsa3fLg96Qve/giphy.gif
The Steelers were terrible from their inception in 1933 until the 1970s, and they’ve been a force ever since.
The Packers were bad to mediocre during the 13 years before Lombardi and roughly 25 years after he left.
The 49ers didn’t win squat for 30-some years prior to the arrival of Walsh and Montana.
Corey already mentioned the Cardinals.
More recently, the Saints were long-time league patsies until Brees blew in, and it took the Seahawks a long long time to get good.
Analytics, baby!
Time to “tear off the rear view mirror,” as Pettine used to say. I think Hue Jackson would agree.