2015 Cleveland Browns Retrospective: Another Lost Season
By Joe Russo
Since 1999, the Cleveland Browns have played 17 seasons, while turning in losing records during 15 of those campaigns. Take a trip down the Factory of Sadness lane and see why 2015 was one of the worst.
Orange barrels are never uncommon in the city of Cleveland, and that’s no different with the Cleveland Bowns–a franchise in a perpetual state of rebuilding.
Go buy your favorite shirt from any of the numerous shops in town reminding everyone that we’ve been trying to get our act together since 1999. We’ve fired our coach, again. We’ve fired multiple front office folks, again. We’ve probably ran a quarterback out of town, again. It might be painful to endure, but we’re going to take a look back at the 3-13 campaign that pushed Jimmy Haslem to take drastic measure in restricting his front office.
Signature Moment: Walk-Off blocked field goal against Baltimore
At home on Monday night, it appeared the Browns would be able to kick a game-winning field goal with hardly any time left on the clock. Travis Coons hasn’t missed a kick all season. Things were looking pretty good. But in the most Browns way possible, first round pick Cam Erving was blown up on the play by Brent Urban, who was making his debut for the Ravens, and Urban was able to get a hand on the Coons’ kick. The rest is history, as Will Hill ran the block back 64 yards for a game winning touchdown. This type of play hadn’t happened since November of 1985.
The loss pushed the Browns to 2-9 on the year and even with a win, 3-8 would not have been pretty. But if you look at the 2015 season, a game where the Browns lose in historically ugly fashion is something that sticks in your head and leaves a special amount of pain in your heart. It’s the type of loss that effectively takes all of the will out of a team. The next week brought a 37-3 loss to the Bengals and only one more win over the equally hapless 49ers. This game is what sealed Mike Pettine’s fate.
Next: Most Satisfying Moment