The Cleveland Browns have been bad, really bad, before. They've been inept, overmatched, impossible to watch, horribly, painfully, downright atrocious.
Until now, they'd never been 0-10.
"I never could have dreamt this — ever," first-year coach Hue Jackson said Friday, hours after Cleveland remained winless in 2016 with a nationally televised 28-7 loss at Baltimore. "It's been tough."
It might get tougher.
Trying to win with a roster gutted by a front office eyeing next year's draft and the future has been harder than Jackson imagined. He's doing all he can with the NFL's youngest team, which could soon join the 2008 Lions as the only 0-16 squads in league history.
The losing is testing Jackson. He's proud and determined, but the losses are taking a toll.
"I am having to coach myself up," he said. "This is different, but at the same time, I get it. I am in it. It is at my feet. I am not going to run from that. I do understand what the issues are and where we are and where we are going to go, but also, it has been tough. I have a good staff who stands behind me. I have an owner who has been unflinching. I have executives in the front office, and they get it.
"Are we disappointed for where we are? Yeah, but I think we also understand what we have to do in order to get this changed."
