The Cleveland Browns haven't been a mess forever. They were really good in the 1940s and 1950s, and good enough to win a National Football League title in 1964. Since then, though, it's a blank slate when it comes to championships. The Browns have never even been to a Super Bowl since it started in 1967, which if you are counting was 58 years ago. Therefore, someone would have to be close to 70 years old to remember celebrating a Browns' championship.
After all that losing for many years, you'd think a clean slate might help. The team received one when the old franchise picked up and moved to Baltimore where, naturally, it won titles in 2001 and 2013. An expansion team replaced the Browns in Cleveland, picking up the old nickname, and starting play in 1999. The team still plays like a first-year expansion team frequently, as the mistakes have piled up. "Long-suffering" doesn't do justice to the fans of that region, who certainly deserve better.
What, then, exactly has been going on for more than a quarter-century? Veteran sportswriter Terry Pluto seems like a good person to contact about the problems of the franchise. After all, he's been around the team for a long time, has written more than 30 books on sports over the years, and always does a solid job on what he produces.
His latest latest effort is called "Why Can't This Team Just Find a Quarterback? And Other Thoughts on Life in Browns Town." Admittedly, that's a rather awkward title, but it gets the idea across. This isn't exactly a history of the team over the past quarter-century. It's more of a collection of essays about the Browns and their actions during their second chance at glory. Pluto is something of a guide, and he's a good choice.
Take it from someone in Buffalo, who has watched the Buffalo Sabres become the New York Jets of hockey - which is not a compliment. Those two teams are on the longest string of non-playoff seasons in professional sports as of this writing. Responsibility for such a streak usually falls on the owner for good reason. The Browns started their current run with someone who might have been fine down the road. Al Lerner was dealt a bad hand by the NFL in terms of start-up time before the franchise started playing - about a year. You knew it wouldn't be easy, and it hasn't been. But Lerner showed signs of having a learning curve when he died of cancer in 2002. His successors in the big office haven't been very consistent. They've frequently changed course in the team's direction, which has led to firings and frequent restarts.
Then there's the matter of the quarterback. It's not easy to find a good one. You'd think there are enough quarterbacks out there to fill a starting spot on most of the NFL teams with reasonable competency. But it's tougher than that. Ask the Browns. They didn't have a quarterback who was the starting quarterback for three straight Opening Days until Baker Mayfield did it in 2019-2021. Mayfield was the first overall draft choice, and the team obviously hoped he could supply stability. He did reasonably well, but the front office wasn't sold on him as a long-term answer. So Mayfield was traded, and he has done better since landing in Tampa Bay.
Meanwhile, the Browns dumped Mayfield because they were on their way to acquiring Deshaun Watson from Houston. What's more, they gave him a ton of guaranteed money in a contract upon acquiring him, even though Watson had been started to be buried under a flood of sexual abuse claims from massage therapists in the Houston area. That didn't make him radioactive enough for the Browns to back away from him. Watson hasn't played more than seven games in a season in Cleveland, and missed all of the 2025 season because of injury. His future in Cleveland, or anywhere else, is a little cloudy these days. And in the meantime, the Browns still need a quarterback.
While those cover the major areas of the book's essays, Pluto opts to take a few turns off the main highway to deal with other subjects. Jim Donovan, the team's radio broadcaster gets two good-sized chapters during his battle with cancer. Some of the Browns' other mistakes, like trading for Odell Beckham Jr. and drafting Johnny Manzell, go under the microscope. The last chapter allows fans to weigh in on why they've stuck with the Browns. The answer, essentially, is that you always stick with the ones you love - even when they go astray.
I wouldn't call this a major look at the Browns' history. It's a little too disjointed for that, and it's easy to wonder how much of this was covered in daily articles. Most will able to plow through this book it in a few hours. But Pluto always has known what he was talking about, and his insight makes "Why Can't This Team Just Find a Quarterback?" worthwhile - especially for Browns' fans.
Four stars
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