Few, if any, NFL fans have felt the pain that Cleveland Browns fans have felt over the past few decades. Detroit Lions fans could relate until they turned things around in recent years. New York Jets fans have been through some brutal times, but at least they remember their last AFC Championship game appearance. Other fan bases have certainly suffered as well, but the Deshaun Watson saga that Browns fans have had to endure over the past four years might give them the crown for the fan base that has suffered the most.
Even older Browns fans can barely remember any extended periods of success. Long-time Browns fan and Ohio native Jon Gruden has seen as much suffering as anybody, but at least he has a Super Bowl ring to ease his pain.
He recently gave Browns fans some advice during these tough times. During an episode of Gruden Family Football Show, he took a call from a Browns fan who said he “dreads football,” and Gruden was able to empathize with him.
“Go out in your yard and just stand like this until we resolve the quarterback situation. It’s just been the same song and dance for so long. It has almost been impossible that you can have no quarterback that you believe in for this long,” said Gruden.
Browns fans are in a different kind of hell pic.twitter.com/XmIwZSfSpV
— Gruden Family Football Show (@GrudenFamilyFS) September 19, 2026
Unfortunately, Baker Mayfield was the one quarterback these fans could truly believe in over the past few decades, and they’ll have to see him on Sunday as he aims to beat the Browns for the first time in his career. He has been adamant all week that he doesn’t hold a grudge against the team and chooses to remember the good times, but there’s just no way he isn’t seething at the opportunity to crush the Browns and potentially end the career of the man that replaced him in the process.
With each passing week, it’s looking clearer that the plan all along was to wait until 2027 to find the next franchise quarterback. It hurts to accept, but the likelihood of either Watson or Shedeur Sanders turning into any sort of long-term solution is a long shot. The faster all Browns fans can accept that, the better.
There is nothing Gruden can say to make things better. These fans know far too much about suffering, but hopefully that can end soon when they finally find the right quarterback in 2027.
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