Sooner or later, even the most successful teams disappoint. Even when they are good, they might lose along the way to what seems like a great chance at a championship. I can't stand the 49ers in the NFL, but they have been very good each of the last three seasons. Yet, each of those seasons ended with a loss. A close loss, in each of those cases, but a loss nonetheless.
I have been rather blessed as a sports fan. I was in France when they won the World Cup, back in 1998, and even enjoyed their run in the 2006 World Cup, even though they lost that final in heartbreaking fashion to Italy. As a Giants fan, I have watched them win the Super Bowl four times, and enjoy considerable success otherwise. Oh, sure, you have the inevitable bad season, like the one just passed, when the Giants started off 0-6 (although they finished out the season 7-3). But, that's just a part of being a fan of sports, and you have to accept it. The Devils also had Stanley Cup success, and even though the Canadian teams (I root for them as well) are obviously all on a championship drought of epic proportions, I can remember when they dominated the sport. In basketball, I saw the Nets reach two consecutive NBA Finals, and numerous other teams that I like enjoy tremendous success.
Hell, I even enjoyed watching Agassi, Federer, and Nadal go through the ups and downs. I can get into all of that.
But I can't imagine being a fan of a team that loses with such a degree of regularity, that fans completely lose hope of ever seeing their franchise actually doing something memorable.
Perhaps, on some level, I can, though. After all, my second favorite team in the NFL would be the New York Jets, who just celebrated 45 years since their one, and really only, shining moment in history - their gigantic upset win over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. I was not even born yet. Since then, the Jets have been underwhelming, to say the least.
Yet, even then, they have enjoyed some success. Four AFC Championship Game appearances, and numerous playoff appearances and wins. Just no Super Bowls. Joe Namath going out to midfield a couple of weeks ago for Super Bowl XLVIII was the first time since Super Bowl III that a member of the family of the New York Jets actually took the field for the big game (with the possible exception of John Riggins, who had formerly been a Jet).
Still, as bleak as the Jets have been, it is not quite on the same level as some other franchises. I'm thinking of the Sacramento Kings, although they were good for a season or two, around one decade ago. Or the Los Angeles Clippers, until the last three or so seasons, when they have gotten hot. Perhaps the Chicago Cubs would be an excellent example.
In the NFL, you have the Jacksonville Jaguars, although they have only been around since 1995, and actually enjoyed some considerable success for a while in the latter half of the nineties.
No, the two franchises that best typify NFL futility for a very long duration nowadays would be the Detroit Lions and the Cleveland Browns. These are two storied franchises that are rich in history and tradition, but have done virtually nothing for many decades now. There are now only four franchises left in the NFL that have never made it to the Super Bowl, and these two are among them. The other two would be the aforementioned Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Houston Texans, who themselves have only played for slightly more than a decade.
But for fans in Detroit and Cleveland, the misfortunes of their teams are just a way of life. This is compounded by the fact that their cities have seen considerable deterioration, and are often the butt of a lot of jokes. At least Detroit has the Red Wings, one of the truly elite teams in hockey, as well as the recent resurgence of the Detroit Tigers, although they have not quite won the World Series recently. Also, the Pistons, though weak again, were champions ten years ago, and a regular contender. The results for the Lions, though, remain disappointing, year after year. Right now, they have an offense that is loaded with talent, and one of the most feared defenders in the league. Theoretically, they should be a perennial playoff contender. But the reality is that they have made the playoffs once in the last decade and a half. And they lost right away, too.
Yet, as dire as that may seem, things are worse for fans of the Cleveland Browns. They cannot fall back on the success of the other Cleveland teams. they have no hockey team, and their basketball team, since the sad departure of LeBron James, has been quite bad. Also, the baseball team is nothing to write home about. And to my understanding, Cleveland is a football town (unlike Detroit, which is supposed to be the only American city where hockey rules). And the Browns are horrible. To be fair, they enjoyed some success, particularly in the eighties, when they made it to three AFC title games in a four year span. Although they did not win any of those games, they were competitive each of those seasons, and are considered by some to be the best team never to have qualified for the Super Bowl.
But those are ancient memories for Browns fans. They were irrelevant through most of the nineties, and the main news coming out for fans in that decade was the departure of the franchise to Baltimore. True, they got an expansion franchise that was able to officially keep the team name, colors, and records, but the team has made the playoffs once since returning. That was in 2002, and they lost right away. They had one winning season at 10-6 since that playoff appearance, and that was in 2008, but they failed to qualify for the playoffs. And now, they are regularly the cellar dwellers in a strong AFC North division. For a little while last season, the Browns bounced back from an 0-2 start to win three in a row and briefly take the lead in the division. Unfortunately, that did not last long, and the Browns were irrelevant again by midseason.
A season that had seemed promising, with the Steelers and the Ravens struggling, and the Bengals at times appearing vulnerable, ended up in disaster, with the Browns, predictably, being far and away the worst team in the division yet again. Another last place finish.
It really isn't fair, because Browns fans are among the most passionate fans in sports. I have seen them in numbers while attending games at Lambeau Field, at Giants Stadium, and in Philly. They take pride in being Cleveland fans, and the results truly break their hearts. They deserve better.
Now, without being selfish as a Giants fan who has seen his team enjoy success at the highest level, I would like to say that my dream Super Bowl, the one that, presently, I would like to see more than any other, would be a match-up between the Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions, with both qualifying for the big game for the very first time.
It almost would not matter who wins or loses, so long as they both make it. Or, then again, it would matter greatly to the long suffering fans of those teams. So, how about if I add this to my dream Super bowl: whoever loses that one goes on to win it all, finally, the very next season?
Hey, it's my dream.
And if it should ever happen, however remote the possibility, I am not entirely sure who I would even be pulling for. But, then again, I think maybe I would pull for the Cleveland Browns, simply because fans of Detroit sports have seen their teams win championships before, in hockey and basketball. They may even be on the verge in baseball, as well (don't know enough about baseball to really say, one way or another).
So, yes, why not? My dream Super Bowl would be the Cleveland Browns defeating the Detroit Lions, with the Lions then returning the following season and winning it all then. So that way, everyone could be happy.
Unfortunately, that does not appear likely anytime soon. The Detroit Lions have some quality talent, enough to get people to take notice in 2011, when they qualified for the playoffs. But they lost immediately, and then suffered a 4-12 season in 2012. This past season, they looked not only like a serious playoff contender, but they were actually leading the division through much of the season. After their ninth game, they had a record of 6-3, and had just completed a season sweep of the second place Chicago Bears. The Green Bay Packers had been in first for much of the season to that point, but they had not won since Aaron Rodgers was injured, and so it was the perfect opportunity for Detroit to take home an unlikely division title, and have a chance to do something in the postseason. But they only won one more game the entire season. Even at 7-5, with four games remaining, the Lions had the lead in the division, plus the tie-breaker against the Bears in their pocket. They had just humiliated the Packers, 40-10, on Thanksgiving, and things were looking up. All they had to do was win at least one, maybe two more games, out of the four games remaining, and they would surely be in. The NFC North, after all, was hardly the most powerful division in the NFL. Yet, the Lions could not even muster one single victory, and as unlikely as it seemed, they finished third place, and were out of the playoff picture officially well before the final weekend.
But for the Lions, that season was pretty symbolic of the last fifty plus, going on sixty years. The Detroit Lions won the NFL Championship back in 1957, well before I was born. In fact, if you are old enough to remember that championship, even as a child, that means that you are just about a senior citizen right now. That's how long it has been since the Detroit Lions were the best in the league.
Since then? They have exactly one playoff win! Think about that for a minute. One playoff victory in almost sixty years. And I remember that victory, too. It was in 1991, when the Lions had the "Silver Stretch" offense. Barry Sanders was their star running back, and they had Herman Moore as their leading receiver. Both of them were in their younger twenties. Detroit's offense was hot that year, and their future looked promising. That season, they went 12-4. That was a memorable season, and I honestly thought it was the beginning of a strong run by the team. Mike Utley was injured, and at least temporarily partly paralyzed that season. But as he was being carted off the field, he held his thumb up, to encourage his team, and that became a symbol for the Lions, and for the NFL in general, that season. It was about survival, and was one of the most iconic images for that 1991 season, a season that was very kind to the Detroit Lions. What I remember most about that team was an odd statistic: they were undefeated on artificial turf. Of course, they played in the Pontiac Silverdome, which meant that they were undefeated at home. But they also were undefeated on the road with games played on artificial turf, and that included a game at Buffalo, the eventual AFC Champions, in the final week (never mind that the game meant nothing to the Bills, who had already clinched home field advantage throughout). Detroit earned the second seed, which meant a playoff bye. They then had the Dallas Cowboys, the eventual "Team of the Decade", as their opponent, and absolutely crushed Dallas, 38-6. That brought their overall record on artificial turf to an impressive 12-0. Unfortunately, though, that victory earned them a date to the NFC Championship Game at red hot Washington, a game that would be played on real grass. The Lions were completely dominated from beginning to end, ultimately losing 41-10 to the eventual Super Bowl champions.
That was the one, and only, season in almost sixty years where the Lions really looked like an elite team, and actually won a playoff game.
As for the Cleveland Browns? Well, it has not been quite as dire as Detroit's fortunes have been since 1957, but it hasn't been all that rosy, either. Cleveland's last NFL championship came in 1964, just a couple of seasons before the "Age of the Super Bowl". And they have won a few playoff games since then, too. They lost to the Baltimore Colts in 1968, and the Minnesota Vikings in 1969. Both of those teams would lose in shocking upsets to the AFL teams, the New York Jets and the Kansas City Chiefs, respectively. They had a seven year stretch in the late seventies where they did not qualify for the playoffs, but they made it numerous times in the eighties. Famously, they made it to the AFC Championship three times in a four year stretch, going against the Denver Broncos each time. But they also lost each time. They would not make it to the playoffs for five seasons after that crushing AFC Championship Game loss to the Broncos following the 1989 season, but they returned to the postseason in 1994, coached by a younger Bill Belichick, and even beat a rising New England Patriots team, coached by Bill Parcells. But they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers the next week, and since, have only qualified for the postseason once, in 2002, losing immediately. Currently, the Cleveland Browns have a drought of eleven years not having made it to the playoffs. That is tied with the Raiders for the second longest active drought, behind the Buffalo Bills, who have not qualified for the postseason since their "Music City Miracle" defeat at Tennessee.
Yes, the prospects may seem bleak for both franchises at the moment. But here are two examples that may give fans for both teams some hope: the 1998 Atlanta Falcons, and the 2008 Arizona Cardinals. The Falcons had only won two playoff games in their history, entering the '98 season. But behind head coach Dan Reeves, they amazed people with a hot start, winning five of their first six games, before getting blown out at the New York Jets. But instead of crashing back down to earth after that, they pulled together a string of victories that still must stand as a franchise record, winning their last nine regular season games to complete a 14-2 regular season record. In the playoffs, they outlasted the 49ers, 20-18, before barely squeaking out a win at the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Championship Game, against an offense that, at that point, was the highest scoring that the NFL had ever seen, to earn a Super Bowl berth. As for the 2008 Arizona Cardinals, they had won a total of one playoff game (ironically, it came in the 1998 season, as well) since their 1947 NFL Championship. That's one playoff win in a span of over sixty years! And nothing much was expected of the 2008 Cardinals, either. But they played in a terrible division. And despite losing two blowout losses in a row late in the regular season, they won the division with a weak 9-7 record. But again, not much was expected of them in the playoffs. But they played very well against Atlanta in the Wild Card, and then shocked the 12-4 Carolina Panthers, blowing them out in Carolina. Finally, the Cardinals knocked off the Eagles in the NFC Championship Game, to earn their first ever Super Bowl appearance, which they almost won! They stormed back from being does, 20-7, to take a lead late in the fourth quarter. It took a miracle comeback from Pittsburgh to get past a tough Arizona team, even though nobody had really expected much from the Cardinals.
So, it's not impossible that either Cleveland or Detroit, or perhaps even both, could find themselves suddenly rising up and surprising people, enjoying a "miracle" season that takes them either to the top, or very near it. The Lions seem more likely to do that in the very near future than the Browns, because they have more talent, and play in a far weaker division. Still, you never know.
But for now, both teams still have to endure a long offseason, filled, as usual, with more questions than answers. Both teams are try to start anew, and both teams got rid of their head coach.
To that end, one Cleveland fan has written an impassioned letter to Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, urging him to do whatever he has to do to make the Browns a winner, once and for all. It is a surprisingly emotional letter, and very well written. I would recommend reading it, if you get the chance, and the link can be found below.
In the meantime, I still dream that, as improbable as it might seem, that Super Bowl match-up could finally happen between the Detroit Lions and the Cleveland Browns. No, that's not my prediction. But it is something that I would love to see. And I'm pretty sure that football fans in Cleveland and Detroit would like to see it, too.
My Dream Super Bowl:
vs.
"Fan Letter to Cleveland Browns Owner Jimmy Haslam" by Zac Wassink, February 12, 2014:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/fan-letter-cleveland-browns-owner-jimmy-haslam-222100486--nfl.html
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