The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
WOE AND 16
Sting of 0-16 season after 28-24 loss to Steelers hits Browns players hard
Browns wide receiver Corey Coleman (19) sits on the field after allowing a pass from quarterback DeShone Kizer to go through his hands for an incompletion during the second half of the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers Dec. 31 in Pittsburgh. It was that kind of year for the Browns, who finished winless in 16 games.
PITTSBURGH » You would think by now the Browns would be used to losing. After all, most of the players in the visitor’s locker room at Heinz Field on Dec. 31 are 1-31 over the last two seasons. The newbies are 0-16. Guess again. Losing hurts. It was especially painful to Corey Coleman, because his dropped pass on fourth down at the Pittsburgh 11 with 1:46 left was the last big play failure in the 28-24 loss to the Steelers.
“I took my eye off the ball,” Coleman finally said after sitting at his locker for about 15 minutes, bent forward with hands on his forehead. “I have to make the play. There’s nothing else to say.”
Of course, football games are rarely decided by one play. Before Coleman’s drop, Duke Johnson fumbled with 12:49 to play at the end of a 32-yard catch and run. DeShone Kizer, who otherwise played his best game of the season, threw an interception on a pass intended for David Njoku with 6:55 remaining.
Coleman’s drop followed the fumble and interception — three straight turnovers with a chance to take the lead.
There is nothing fluky about the 0-16 record. It is as real and as well-earned as anything the Browns have done in the 19 years they’ve been back in the NFL.
“This (memory) will last forever,” Coleman said. “I can talk about a play or so I didn’t make in college and still remember to this day.”
Jason McCourty, in his first year with the Browns, called the season a “nightmare”
after he finished dressing. He was looking forward to getting back home, spending time with his family and putting the season behind him as quickly as possible. Midnight and “Happy New Year” will carry special meaning for McCourty and his teammates.
“I feel like the talent in this locker room might not be enough to win the Super Bowl this year, but it’s far more talented than 0-16,” McCourty said. “I’m kind of tired of so many people saying — even within the organization — that we don’t have the guys or we need more guys. Let’s work with the guys we do have and find ways to win games.”
Coach Hue Jackson will be back. Owner Jimmy Haslam made that official after the game, but Jackson was near tears as he addressed the media in his postgame news conference.
Now his name will be forever linked to 0-16.
Chris McNeil, a season ticket holder from Granville, Ohio, has planned a 0-16 parade around FirstEnergy Stadium for Jan. 6.
He says it isn’t to make fun of the Browns. Jackson sees it as rubbing salt in an open wound.
“This football team has given me everything they have,” Jackson said. “We’re an 0-16 football team. I get it. I know about the parades and everything else that’s going to be said. But trust me, I don’t think anybody knows what the fight is in that room.”
The interception Kizer threw was his 22nd of the season. He was 0-15 as a starter in 2017. He might never start another game for the Browns. General manager John Dorsey is making quarterback his top priority. Whether that means drafting one or signing a veteran or both is to be determined, but Kizer could very well be one and done.
“The standards I set for myself are higher than this — higher than (reporters), higher than the coaches, higher than Mr. Haslam and Mr. Dorsey,” Kizer said. “I’m going to take this one hard.
“It’s very tough (to be 0-16). You hear 0-13 and then you touch 0-14 and then at 0-15, alarms start creeping into your mind a little bit … It’s going to be tough to swallow.”
The 2008 Detroit Lions are the only other team to go 0-16. They went 2-14 in 2009, 6-10 in 2010, 10-6 in 2011 and 4-12 in 2012. They finished over .500 three of the last four years.