Head coach Chris Palmer Owner Al Lerner Division place 6th AFC Central | General manager Dwight Clark Record 2–14 | |
Home field Cleveland Browns Stadium | ||
The 1999 Cleveland Browns season was the Browns 51st season overall and 47th in the NFL. It marked the return of professional football to the city of Cleveland, Ohio for the first time since the 1995 season, when the franchise was deactivated following the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy, which ultimately established the Baltimore Ravens.
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Season information
During the course of the 1995 season, then-Browns owner Art Modell announced his decision to move the Browns to Baltimore. Modell's new team would begin playing in the 1996 season. It would be the first time since 1935 that Cleveland would be left without an existing football team and the first time since 1943 without a team playing, when the Cleveland Rams suspended operation for one year, so the other teams could have enough players during World War II.
However, many Browns fans and Cleveland city officials were determined to keep the team in Cleveland, and orchestrated a grassroots movement to keep the team in Cleveland. The NFL responded by working with city officials, and the two parties came to a unique agreement which would provide the city with a brand-new, state-of-the-art stadium and would promise the return of professional football to Cleveland by the beginning of the 1999 season. Modell also agreed to relinquish the Browns' name, colors and team history to the new owner of the Browns. Modell's new team would begin playing in the 1996 season as the Baltimore Ravens.
While the Browns' new stadium was being built on the site of the old Cleveland Stadium, the foundation of the front office was being set in place. Al Lerner won a bidding war for the new team for $750 million. Lerner hired former San Francisco 49ers front office staffers Carmen Policy and Dwight Clark as the Browns' president and vice president.
Football finally returned to Cleveland on September 12 when the Browns opened the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers at home. However, the fans were sorely disappointed as the Browns were defeated by the Steelers 43–0. The team would go on to lose their first seven games, but finally in week 8 of their inaugural season the "New Browns" got their first ever win over the New Orleans Saints. From the Browns' 42-yard line Tim Couch squared up and threw a Hail Mary pass that was tipped in the endzone by Saints defenders but then caught by the Browns' Kevin Johnson. The dramatic game winning touchdown play happened in the last two seconds of the game, causing the final score to be 21–16. Two weeks later, the Browns defeated the Steelers in Pittsburgh, 16–15, for their second and final win of the year.
The Browns ended the season badly, finishing 2–14—sixth in the AFC Central. It was the worst record that any Cleveland team ever compiled at the end of a season. They did not win a home game throughout the season.
The 1999 Browns' ineptitude would be surpassed by the 2016 squad, which lost its first 14 games and finished 1-15.
Hall of Fame Game
Expansion Draft
Players selected from other teams in the Cleveland Expansion Draft, in order of selection.