Is it too late to give the Browns’ name, its colors, and history back to Baltimore?

When Art Modell sold the city of Cleveland down the river and moved the Browns to Baltimore, Clevelanders clamoured to keep the Browns’ name and create a new Browns out of…well, what would become a bunch of misfits led by poor schlep Chris Palmer in 1999.

After Sunday’s 34-3 humiliating annihilation at the hands of the former Browns, it is time to consider the 2009 Browns the latest group of misfits, and call the total new Browns a failed experiment.

But where to go from here?

Another trenchant view. I particularly like the quote in the sidebar, “Until further notice, the Cleveland Browns have become the franchise where quarterbacks go to see their careers die.”

Monday Morning Brownie Blues

We're reasonably sure that we've given the Mangini regime and the 2009 Cleveland Browns as great a benefit of the doubt as anyone, anywhere.  And still, the biggest question on our mind today is whether the Cleveland Browns could ever be restored under the stewardship of an owner whose primary municipal affiliation is with a city other than Cleveland.  Isn't it fair to suppose that there are too many NFL owners who are so much more connected than Randy Lerner not just with the NFL franchise in the family name, but the city in which the franchise resides, as to make it impossible for Lerner-led Browns to ever compete?  So many NFL owners for whom stewardship of the franchise is a labor of love, rather than a challenging distraction from matters closer to the heart?  Hasn't it all been too much over this last decade for us to suppose anything else?

A site for Cleveland sports named Cleveland Frowns. Sigh. Here's an interesting quote later in this post: The only thing worse than going through the rest of this year with Tweedledee and Tweedledum at quarterback is going to be watching the Browns next year.

Have to Score to Win, Cleveland

My overall exposure has been limited to the few teams I've seen, but I have would have to say with great bias and pure self-deprecation that if I had to pick one team in the NFL to deem "most likely to go winless in 2009," my own beloved Cleveland Browns would have to be my choice as having the most realistic chance. There's really only one reason, and it reared its ugly head again on Sunday: this team simply cannot score on offense. Forget scoring, they struggle to get first downs. They mustered only 11 against Baltimore (1 via penalty), and most came in the second half after the Ravens were comfortably ahead by 20+ points.

The Browns defense is mediocre at its best; they can stop the run early in games with fairly consistent success, and their secondary -- while largely suspect -- can usually keep teams out of the end zone. It's been classic bend-but-don't-break. However, since the offense can't run the ball with any kind of consistency and has little pass protection on the right side, it can make for some very short drives. Combine those two factors with the fact that Brady Quinn is attempting to cut his teeth running the sometimes-beguiling playcalls of rookie Offensive Coordinator Brian Doboll, and you have a recipe for offensive ineptitude the likes of which I haven't seen since the Browns were in their first and second years as an expansion team.

This guy is a Browns season ticket holder. Follow the link for the whole sad story.