CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Browns enter the offseason knowing one thing: in order to turn around their fortunes after becoming the second team in NFL history to finish a season with an 0-16 record, there is much work to be done.
And as much as there is physical work to be done, the Browns must also shake the stigma that comes with a winless season and work their way back to respectability in the AFC North Division, where they have finished in fourth place for seven straight years, and in nine of the last 10.
“It is a process and it is going to take a little bit, but as a team, we have to turn the page,” offensive lineman Joel Bitonio said. “We can't let it hold us back for the future.”
With Sunday's 28-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Browns went winless in a 16-game season for the first time in franchise history, and their 17th consecutive setback dropped the organization to a league-worst 1-31 record since the opening game of 2016.
The Browns have not won on a Sunday afternoon since December 13, 2015. The 33 straight Sunday losses are an NFL record, and their 4-49 mark in the last 53 outings is the worst in the league over the past four-plus years.
Additionally, this season, the Browns set the record for the worst 28-game stretch in NFL history, as they bested the previous mark of 2-26 set by the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 1976-1977 seasons with a 1-27 mark that got four losses worse since Week 13.
“Unfortunately, we weren't good enough this year,” Bitonio said. “Our record shows that, but the 2018 season will be here before we know it, and we have to go out there and play football again. We put a new GM (John Dorsey) in place, and he is going to make moves to try to make our team better. On a personal note, you think about what you can do to get better.”
In five seasons under the majority ownership of Dee and Jimmy Haslam, the Browns have posted an NFL-worst 15-65 record. Factoring in the remaining games of the 2012 season after the sale was approved at an NFL Owners Meeting in Chicago, the Browns have gone 19-70 under the Haslams.
Also, with Buffalo clinching a wildcard berth in the AFC, the Browns now have the longest-standing playoff drought in the NFL.
“You come back out here and 'What can I do to help this team? How can I change this team so maybe I'm worth one or two more wins next year for this team?'” Bitonio said. “That is kind of my perspective, and I think we have a lot of guys that are thinking that way.
“It has been tough, but I know my goal is one day, next year, two years, three years down the road, when we get rookies coming in and we are winning games, they are going to appreciate what we did this year and what we have done the past couple of years that we fought through to make this a winning franchise.”
