How Recent History Hasn’t Been Kind to the Cleveland Browns in Week 1 Games

We’re less than a week to go before the Cleveland Browns open their 2026 regular season.

First up, is a road game at the Jacksonville Jaguars, followed by another road game in Florida, this time against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

However, there’s one historic reason why Cleveland’s fans may want to pause before getting too excited for the regular season to kick off.

The Browns are, by far, the worst Week 1 team in the NFL in the last two decades, having won only three opening weekend games since 1999. Over that time, Cleveland’s record is an embarrassing 3-23-1, with the lone tie coming on kickoff weekend for the 2018 with a 21-21 score against Pittsburgh.

The amount of Week 1 wins every NFL team has had since 2000 👀 pic.twitter.com/vQQRjD5fxb
— Novig (@Novig) September 7, 2026

The next worst team since 2000 are the Giants, with eight opening weeks, almost triple the amount of Cleveland. Even Houston, only playing since 2002, have 11 Week 1 victories to date.

Since 1999, the Browns have started 20 different quarterbacks for Week 1, with only Jeff Garcia in 2004, Jacoby Brissett in 2022 and Deshaun Watson in 2023 managing a win. Watson will be at the steering wheel once again next Sunday.

Based on the 2025 season, the Browns currently have the easiest strength of schedule, with their 2026 opponents combining for a .429 winning percentage last year. Only three of the team’s rivals for the current campaign finished last year with a winning record. The bad news is that the Jaguars were one of them -- along with the Texans and Steelers.

Could Deshaun Watson endear himself to the fans with a Week 1 win?

Much to the fanbase’s chagrin, new head coach Todd Monken opted to go with Watson as the team’s starting quarterback to open the season instead of staying the course with Shedeur Sanders, who was the only passer to record more than one win for the team last year.

Barring an unexpected twist, Watson will now become just the second quarterback to start three different Week 1 games for the Browns since 1999, putting him in a tie with former No. 1 overall pick Baker Mayfield, the guy he was brought in to replace back in 2022.

This puts Watson in position in the unique situation to potentially become the only quarterback since 1999 to lead the Browns to multiple Week 1 victories.

Would that be enough to win over a fanbase that seems ready to move on from what is arguably the worst trade in the history of the NFL?

Highly unlikely one game will do the trick, especially after Watson’s post-game meltdown after Week 2 of the preseason when he went off against Browns’ fans for booing him mercilessly during the third quarter of that game, where the passer described the situation as “personal” and “not performance related.”

Nonetheless, a Week 1 win could do wonders for a team looking for its first postseason berth in three years, while still waiting for a long-term answer at the most important position in all of sports.

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