NFL Equivalent To Leicester City Cinderella Found

The NFL has seen tons of huge upsets in its history, but none of the Leicester City odds.  So what would it take?

By this point even people who aren’t soccer fans have heard about the incredible run made by the Foxes.  In an English Premier League without salary cap and dominated by traditional powerhouses like Chelsea, Manchester City, and Manchester United; this franchise had not won a league title in its history dating all the way back to 1891.

Yet somehow, facing 5000-to-1 odds, they completed a 22-11-3 season that culminated in just one loss over their final 10 matches to claim the championship.  Since then various sports leagues have tried to find what their equivalent could possibly be to matching such an improbable run.

NFL.com writer Dan Hanzus gave his answer.

"“A Cleveland Browns triumph in Super Bowl 51 immediately comes to mind, and perhaps with good reason. Picture this: Robert Griffin III — glowing in officially licensed championship merch — hoists the Lombardi Trophy above his head as his home-state fans roar for their prodigal son. Jimmy Haslam offers his greatest guffaw yet. Sashi Brown embraces Paul DePodesta as FOX mics catch Sashi dropping a, “We f—— did it, Paulie!” Joe Buck apologizes to listeners in a way that is more serious than it needs to be. Josh Gordon does confetti angels at the 50-yard line with Corey Coleman. Joe Thomas wanders on the fringes of the celebration, daughters in each arm, a dazed grin on his face. An overzealous team official grabs the mic from Terry Bradshaw and hollers, “Today we are all Browns!”"

To understand the magnitude of that idea, it’s important to paint the picture.  This Browns franchise has not made the playoffs since 2002.  Its never won a playoff game since its reinstatement into the league in 1999 and has just one winning season in the past 13 years.  They are coming off a 3-13 record, saw a host of their best players leave via free agency and now must start over with a rookie head coach and rookie GM.

They are going into a season with a quarterback in Robert Griffin III who was a former Rookie of the Year that ended up being cut by Washington after losing his job to Kirk Cousin, a man drafted three rounds after him in the same draft.  Their best receivers could be a 5’10” rookie and a drug addict who hasn’t even been reinstated yet.

Never mind the reality that no team donning the Browns name has won a title since 1964.

To think this clearly rebuilding, ragtag organization could get past New England, Pittsburgh, and Denver to even reach the Super Bowl is ludicrous.  Winning it?  Yeah, that would be quite the challenge to Leicester City.