Cleveland Browns Trivia
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47 free Cleveland Browns trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
45 free Cleveland Browns trivia questions with answers. The Cleveland Browns have one of the strangest histories in football: a dynasty that played in ten straight championship games, a superstar who quit at 29, thirty years of near-misses with names like The Drive and The Fumble, a franchise packed off to Baltimore, and a rebirth that has been rough. This quiz covers all of it, from Paul Brown and Otto Graham through Jim Brown, Brian Sipe and Bernie Kosar to Joe Thomas, Myles Garrett and Baker Mayfield. Expect questions on the logo-less helmet, the Dawg Pound, the Battle of Ohio and the Turnpike Rivalry, the 0-16 season, and the stadium on the lakefront. Roughly a third of the questions are easy for any fan, a third are medium, and the rest are for people who remember Red Right 88. Every answer is checked against the team's and players' reference pages, so it is safe for a bar trivia night or a family argument.
30 of 47 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Cleveland Browns are named after whom?
Their first coach and co-founder
Their first coach and co-founder, Paul Brown, was already an Ohio hero for a national title at Ohio State; he at first turned the honour down, but the name won out after a fan contest.
Q 02In which league did the Browns begin play in 1946?
All-America Football Conference
The All-America Football Conference lasted four seasons and Cleveland won all four titles; few expected that to carry over, until the Browns' first NFL game ended 35-10 over the champion Eagles.
Q 03Which AAFC team entered the NFL with the Browns in 1950, only to fold after a single season?
Baltimore Colts
The Baltimore Colts of 1950 lasted one NFL season before money troubles shut them down; the Colts name returned in 1953 with a new franchise, the one that plays in Indianapolis today.
Q 04Which team in 2016 won Cleveland's first major title since the 1964 Browns?
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cleveland Cavaliers ended the 52-year wait by coming back from 3-1 down in the NBA Finals, something no team had done before.
Q 05Which Browns quarterback reached a championship game in every season of his pro career?
Otto Graham
Otto Graham played ten pro seasons and reached the title game in all ten; he had gone to Northwestern on a basketball scholarship and won a pro basketball title with the Rochester Royals first.
Q 06Jim Brown retired in 1966 while filming which war movie?
The Dirty Dozen
The Dirty Dozen was still shooting in England when the Browns threatened to fine him for missing training camp; Brown, 30 and at his peak, retired rather than hurry back.
Q 07Besides football, Jim Brown is considered one of the greatest ever players of which sport?
Lacrosse
Lacrosse: Brown was a first-team All-American at Syracuse in it as well as in football, and the Premier Lacrosse League later named its MVP award after him.
Q 08Which Browns receiver caught three touchdowns in the shutout that won Cleveland's final pre-Super Bowl title?
Gary Collins
Gary Collins caught all three of Frank Ryan's touchdown passes in the second half of the 27-0 shutout of Johnny Unitas's favored team.
Q 09Which two Browns broke pro football's modern color barrier together in September 1946?
Marion Motley and Bill Willis
Marion Motley and Bill Willis took the field for Cleveland in September 1946, months before Jackie Robinson's first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers; both went on to the Hall of Fame.
Q 10Which Browns tackle and kicker, nicknamed 'The Toe', has college football's kicker award named after him?
Lou Groza
Lou Groza's field goal with 28 seconds left won the 1950 NFL title game 30-28 in the Browns' first season in the league; he played 21 seasons and always called himself a tackle first.
Q 11What are the Browns unique for among the NFL's 32 helmets?
They have no logo
They have no logo: the plain orange helmet is itself the team's emblem, and a 'CB' decal designed for the 1965 season never appeared in a game.
Q 12Which early Browns mascot did owner Art Modell phase out in the 1960s?
Brownie the Elf
Brownie the Elf dates from the team's 1940s beginnings; Modell is said to have found it too childish, yet a fan poll put the elf back at midfield from 2022 to 2024.
Q 13What is the famous bleacher section behind the east end zone at Browns home games called?
The Dawg Pound
Q 21In 1995, owner Art Modell announced he was moving the Browns to which city?
Baltimore
Modell's November 1995 announcement moved the team to Baltimore; a 1996 compromise let him take the players as a new franchise while the Browns' name, colors and history stayed in Cleveland.
Q 22Which quarterback did the returning Browns draft first overall in 1999?
Tim Couch
Tim Couch was the first draft choice of a team that had sat out three seasons; the fresh start began with a 43-0 home defeat in its first game back.
Q 23What name did the Browns' stadium adopt in 2024?
Huntington Bank Field
Huntington Bank Field took its name in 2024; a decade as FirstEnergy Stadium had ended early the year before, after Cleveland's council urged the utility to give up the rights over a state bribery scandal.
The Dawg Pound dates from 1985, when cornerback Hanford Dixon called his defense 'the Dawgs': players barked after sacks, fans barked back, and he hung the first banner on the cheapest bleachers.
Q 14The 1980 Browns of quarterback Brian Sipe earned what nickname for their last-minute finishes?
The Kardiac Kids
The Kardiac Kids won their division with a string of games settled in the final moments, and Sipe was league MVP; the run ended the same way, on an end-zone interception in the last minute of a playoff game.
Q 15'Red Right 88' was a Browns pass intercepted in a January 1981 playoff loss to which team?
Oakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders won 14-12: the Browns were in field-goal range, but their kicker had missed twice in the cold, so the coach called one more pass, to be thrown 'into Lake Erie' if nobody was open.
Q 16Bernie Kosar's Browns lost three late-1980s AFC Championship Games, each time to which team?
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos beat Cleveland in the AFC title games of the 1986, 1987 and 1989 seasons, the first two remembered for The Drive and The Fumble.
Q 17After 'The Drive' tied the 1986 AFC title game, how did the Browns lose?
An overtime field goal
An overtime field goal of 33 yards settled it 23-20, after the visitors had marched 98 yards to tie the game in the final minute.
Q 18Which Browns running back committed "The Fumble" in the 1987 AFC Championship Game?
Earnest Byner
Earnest Byner was stripped by defensive back Jeremiah Castille just short of the goal line with about a minute left and the Browns trailing 38-31.
Q 19The Browns acquired Bernie Kosar in 1985 through what unusual route?
The supplemental draft
Kosar came through the 1985 supplemental draft after Cleveland traded picks to Buffalo for the Bills' supplemental choice, letting the Youngstown native come home.
Q 20Who was the Browns' head coach from 1991 to 1995?
Bill Belichick
Bill Belichick's only playoff win in Cleveland came against New England, the team he later coached to six Super Bowl titles; the Browns let him go after a 5-11 season in 1995.
Q 24Which Heisman-winning quarterback did the Browns draft 22nd overall in 2014?
Johnny Manziel
Johnny Manziel was the third quarterback in eight drafts that the Browns took with the 22nd pick, after Brady Quinn and Brandon Weeden; none lasted, and he was released within two seasons.
Q 25Entering 2025, which of these teams, like the Browns, had never reached a Super Bowl?
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars, who only began play in 1995, were one of three teams sharing the distinction with Cleveland, a franchise that won eight league titles before the Super Bowl existed.
Q 26The Browns' 2017 season ended with what record?
0-16
The 2017 Browns went 0-16, only the second winless 16-game season in NFL history; a week later fans marked it with a mock 'Perfect Season' parade around the stadium.
Q 27Which two players did the Browns take first overall in the 2017 and 2018 drafts?
Myles Garrett and Baker Mayfield
Myles Garrett went first overall in 2017 and Baker Mayfield first in 2018; Mayfield's debut ended a 19-game winless streak, and his 27 touchdown passes were then a rookie record.
Q 28Baker Mayfield won the 2017 Heisman Trophy after starting his college career in what unusual way?
As a walk-on
As a walk-on: Mayfield joined Texas Tech without a scholarship and started as a freshman, then walked on again at Oklahoma, becoming the first such Heisman winner of the scholarship era.
Q 29Myles Garrett played his college football at which school?
Texas A&M
Texas A&M was Garrett's home for three seasons; the pass rusher, who writes poetry on the side, went on to set the NFL single-season sack record with 23 in 2025.
Q 30What does the 10,363 on Joe Thomas's Browns Ring of Honor entry represent?
Consecutive snaps played
The streak of consecutive snaps played ran from his 2007 debut until a torn triceps in October 2017; Thomas made the Pro Bowl every season from 2007 through 2016.