1995 Cleveland Browns season

1995 Cleveland Browns season
OwnerArt Modell
Head coachBill Belichick
Offensive coordinatorSteve Crosby
Defensive coordinatorRick Venturi
Home fieldCleveland Municipal Stadium
Local radioWKNR · WDOK
Results
Record5–11
Division place4th AFC Central
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro Bowlersnone

The 1995 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 50th season overall and 46th in the National Football League. It ultimately became their final NFL season until 1999, their final season at Cleveland Stadium, and Bill Belichick's final year as Browns head coach. The team finished 5–11, fourth in the AFC Central, though most of the season was overshadowed by the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy. The team was documented in NFL Network's A Football Life.[1]

After finishing 11–5 in 1994 and winning a playoff game for the first time since 1989, the Browns were favored by many to reach Cleveland's first ever Super Bowl.[2] The Browns started by winning three of their first four games and were 4–4 halfway through the season. On November 6, the day after the Browns recorded their fifth loss, a 37–10 blowout against the Oilers, owner Art Modell announced that he intended to move the team to Baltimore at the end of the season. Stunned by this news, the team collapsed and only won one of their remaining seven games and Belichick was fired after the season.

As part of the agreement reached in February 1996 to allow Modell to move, the city of Cleveland was allowed to keep the Browns name, franchise history and all memorabilia and agreed to build a new stadium by 1999. In return, Modell was allowed to take the player contracts from the Browns, as well as the bulk of his organization, to Baltimore, but his franchise, later named the Baltimore Ravens, would be considered a 1996 expansion team. The NFL agreed that the Browns would be reactivated no later than 1999, by way of an expansion draft or relocated team.

  1. ^ "NFL Network's A FOOTBALL LIFE to Return 9/12". tv.broadwayworld.com. Retrieved September 11, 2012.
  2. ^ "Cleveland Browns | 1995". Archived from the original on June 2, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014. It was supposed to be the season of dreams. The 1995 Browns were finally going to make it to the Super Bowl, adding to their already impressive resume the one thing that was lacking. The fans were primed for it. So, too, were the players and coaches. And also the national media. None other than Sports Illustrated picked the Browns to get to the big game and lose to the defending Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers, 34-13.