Browns Rank 23rd in New Column “NFL’s Greatest Franchise Rankings”

The Browns since 1999 have had little to no success, minus one 9-7 playoff season that ended with a bitter playoff loss to the Steelers, and a 10-6 season that saw the team miss the postseason after a hard to swallow week 15 loss that year to the rival Bengals.

Back in the 1950’s and 60’s the Browns were the standard bearer in the NFL, the greatest franchise for winning title after title, rolling out superstar after superstar, including maybe the greatest quarterback of all-time in Otto Graham, and the best running back in history in Jim Brown.

The Browns have won 28 division titles and an overall record of 508-458-13, but most in recent history know nothing but losses, and it’s been a major setback for the legacy of the franchise.

Mike Freeman, NFL National Reporter for Bleacher Report, has written a long column which talks about each and every NFL franchise, and their success in a piece entitled the “NFL’s Greatest Franchise Rankings.”

The Browns, according to Freeman, come in at 23rd on the list, and here’s what Freeman has to say about the Browns in their page:

“Leave as little to chance as possible. Preparation is the key to success.” —Paul Brown

This is a weird position to put the Browns. Their history is almost divided into two: pre-merger and post-merger. From 1946 through 1955, the Browns appeared in 10 consecutive AFL or NFL championship games, winning seven. They won one more championships in 1964 and they produced maybe the greatest coach of all time in Paul Brown and definitely the greatest football player ever in Jim Brown.

Yet the past three to four decades have been so painful, so putrid, filled with phrases like The Drive and The Fumble. They have no playoff appearances since 2002 and more quarterbacks than stars in the sky. In recent years, nothing has defined losing like the Browns have.

But those earlier years under Brown were so successful that they act as a propellant for their ranking here. Cleveland is higher because of that respect for Paul Brown.

No Super Bowls, and no conference titles since the merger are two key factors the Browns are as low as they are on the list. If you want to see the Browns page, and read the rest of the entire column, click HERE.