3 historic NFL franchises find themselves in same boat since turn of the century

Kenny Albert and Jonathan Vilma break down Quinn Ewers’ performance as he shines and the Miami Dolphins stun the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with the defense holding strong.

Rewind to the beginning of the 2001 NFL season.

Miami Dolphins head coach Dave Wannstedt was entering his second season at the helm in place of the legendary Jimmy Johnson. Both the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets were starting fresh. The Browns hired Butch Davis to replace Chris Palmer as head coach, and the Jets moved on from Al Groh and the Bill Belichick debacle with Herm Edwards.

Hopes for all three teams were as high as they’ve been. The future looked bright.

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New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan talks to the referees before the start of the game against the Denver Broncos at Sports Authority Field on Nov. 17, 2011. (Ron Chenoy/USA TODAY Sports)

Fast-forward nearly 25 years, not much progress has been made by any of the three franchises. As the 2025 season nears its end, the Dolphins, Browns and Jets will all end with losing records, missing the playoffs and a grand total of zero Super Bowl appearances.

The Browns are usually teased by NFL fans as a laughing-stock franchise with the amount of futility the franchise has been through since the 2001 season began.

Cleveland was the second team in NFL history to go winless throughout a season. The Browns have had 39 starting quarterbacks in that span, including three different ones this season in Joe Flacco, Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders. The Browns have had nine different head coaches in that span and have made three playoff appearances, including one playoff win. The team was last in the postseason in 2023.

It’s bad in Cleveland, but the one