Established: 1946
Home Field: Cleveland Browns Stadium – Cleveland, Ohio
Owner(s): Randy Lerner
General manager: George Kokinis
Head coach: Eric Mangini

The Cleveland Browns were established in 1946 as part of the All-American Football Conference. They joined the NFL in 1950 after the AAFC dissipated. When the team first formed, they achieved high success, winning all four AAFC titles and even posting a 15-0 undefeated season in 1948. After joining the NFL, the team still found success, winning four more championships prior to the NFL-AFL merger in 1970. Since then, the team has not played in a championship game. They are currently part of the AFC North.

As mentioned, the Browns achieved great success when they were first established, all the way through to the 1970s. Though in 1974 the success dropped away and the Browns posted a 4-10 season. It would be two years before they posted another winning season. By 1976, the Browns had shown that they were imroving. They had a couple of average seasons, but by 1980, the team seemed revamped. They started the season off at 3-3 and then rallied for the next four games, grabbing wins due to fourth quarter comebacks. It was the year of the ‘Kardiac Kids’: Doug Dieken, Tom DeLeon and Joe Delamielleure. They made it to their first playoff game in eight years, though they lost to the Oakland Raiders.

After the 1980 dream season, the Browns fell again. Things continued to go up and down until 1995 when Modell made the controversial decision to move the team to Floridia. There was so much protesting that the decision was ultimately made to keep the Browns franchise in Cleveland, but allow Modell to move players and staff to Florida. This resulted in the Browns stopping play for the next four seasons. They resumed play in 1999 and despite some success in 2002 and 2007, the team has consistently posted losing seasons.

Championships

League Championships
AAFC: 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949
NFL: 1950, 1954, 1955, 1964

Conference Championships
NFL American: 1950, 1951, 1952
NFL Eastern: 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1964, 1965, 1968, 1969

Division Championships
AAFC Western: 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949
NFL Century: 1967, 1968, 1969
AFC Central: 1971, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989

Browns Trivia

• The Browns were founding members of the All-American Football Conference and were champions in each year it existed.
• Otto Graham was the first team member of the Browns to be inducted into the Football Hall of Fame.
• The Browns are the only team in the NFL without logos on their helmets.