x
Breaking News
More () »

Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson lives up to word, jumps into Lake Erie to cleanse away losses

Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson fulfills promise to into Lake Erie.
Credit: Matt Florjancic, WKYC

BAY VILLAGE, Ohio -- Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson is a man of his word, and he is not afraid to live up to it.

After the team finished the 2017 regular season with an 0-16 record on the heels of a 1-15 mark in 2016, Jackson will live up to his word when he takes a plunge into Lake Erie at Huntington Beach in Bay Village Friday, and he is very much looking forward to fulfilling the promise.

“We want to be an organization that when we say ‘we’re working at this and trying to win,’ that we get to winning,” Jackson said. “I shouldn’t say trying to win because we’re not trying to win. It’s time to start winning around here. That’s what I came here for, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

Jackson was far from the only one who took the plunge into Lake Erie in an effort to cleanse away the losing that has plagued the Browns, especially in recent seasons.

In order to raise money for The Hue Jackson Foundation, which combats human trafficking in Northeast Ohio, Jackson pledged to donate $100 for each Browns employee who joined him on the jump into Lake Erie.

According to the Browns, Jackson was joined on the Lake Erie plunge by 100 team employees, and with a match from Jimmy and Dee Haslam, raised $30,000 for The Hue Jackson Foundation.

“Ohio is the No. 4 state affected by human trafficking, and we have to do something about this,” Jackson said. “I think, as a community, when we make a decision to do something, we get it done.”

Credit: Matt Florjancic, WKYC

With their 28-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on New Year’s Eve 2017, the Browns went winless in a 16-game season for the first time in franchise history, and their 17th consecutive setback dropped the organization to a league-worst 1-31 record since the opening game of 2016.

The Browns have not won on a Sunday afternoon since December 13, 2015. The 33 straight Sunday losses are an NFL record, and their 4-49 mark in the last 53 outings is the worst in the league over the past four-plus years.

Additionally, this past year, the Browns set the record for the worst 28-game stretch in NFL history, as they “bested” the previous mark of 2-26 set by the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the 1976-1977 seasons with a 1-27 mark that got four losses worse over the final four games.

But with additions to the roster through free agency and the 2018 NFL Draft, the Browns believe brighter times are ahead for the Browns.

Credit: Matt Florjancic, WKYC

“The last couple years have been terrible for us and been really terrible for our fans,” Dee Haslam said following the event. “We take that responsibility and feel horrible about it because Northeast Ohio and the fans of the Cleveland browns deserve so much more.

“We’re going to continue to work really hard and do everything we can, as we’ve said, to make this a winning organization. And I think you’ve seen the steps we’ve taken, the players look great. We were in the facility today and got the chance to spend some time with the players and they’re very fired up and working really hard.”

Stream Live with fuboTV -Try Free Trial

Before You Leave, Check This Out