BEREA, Ohio (AP) – On the 40th anniversary of their last NFL title, the Cleveland Browns and their long-suffering fans have something else to celebrate: Only one week left in this season of agony.

In the 54 years that have passed since they joined the league, the Browns have rarely been this pathetic – or so seemingly far from their first trip to the Super Bowl.

With an uglier-than-ugly 10-7 loss Sunday night on national TV to the Miami Dolphins, Cleveland has dropped nine straight games, matching the club’s longest single-season losing streak set in 1975.

Those Browns, coached by Forrest Gregg and featuring Greg Pruitt, Mike Phipps and Doug Dieken, opened the season 0-9 and finished 3-11. Unless they can somehow win their 2004 finale at Houston, these Browns (3-12), who began the year 3-3, will drop their last 10.

What in the name of Otto Graham has gone wrong?

“For whatever reason, if the football gods are watching, they are not smiling on Cleveland,” interim coach Terry Robiskie said Monday as he reviewed yet another bitter loss.

Cleveland’s season collapsed under a pile of costly injuries – 15 players are on injured reserve – made more painful by the league’s toughest schedule and the sudden resignation of coach Butch Davis, who couldn’t take any more and quit on Nov. 30.

Sadly, one of the league’s most storied franchises, the Browns have become a symbol for incompetence.

“It’s tough to watch,” said Dieken, an offensive tackle with the Browns from 1971-84 and now a radio commentator. “You can’t put your finger on one thing that’s wrong because there are so many things: injuries, personnel decisions, coaching changes.”

And it was all exposed for the world to see Sunday.

With the Dolphins and Browns locked in a 7-7 tie and pitifully trading punts with nearly every possession, ESPN’s broadcast team of Mike Patrick, Paul Maguire and Joe Theismann went silent for about 30 seconds. Patrick finally regained his composure and admitted the trio had been overcome with a case of the giggles.

Nobody is laughing as this sports-mad city’s world championship drought has reached middle age. There is an entire generation of Clevelanders who weren’t alive on Dec. 27, 1964, when Gary Collins’ three TD catches sent the Browns to a 27-0 win over the Baltimore Colts and the NFL title.

That was the last time Cleveland ruled pro football. It may be some time before it presides over the game again.

The Browns have a ton of work to do. Once the season ends, they’ll begin interviews for a new general manager. Next, they’ll have to find a coach, preferably one with NFL experience, who will inherit a roster lacking depth and quality.

Robiskie, the former offensive coordinator who is wildly popular with his players but a longshot to get the job, thinks the Browns have some good pieces in place.

“I don’t know if this is a deal where you have to rebuild the whole place,” Robiskie said. “I don’t think you have to go and blow the whole building up.”

In losing to the Dolphins on Olindo Mare’s 51-yard field goal with 7 seconds remaining, the Browns assured themselves of picking in the top four of April’s draft – a status reserved for the league’s worst teams.

“It hurts a lot,” said Robiskie, now 0-4 since replacing Davis.

. “But I’ve been around long enough to know that it happens. The cycle goes around.”

But it seems to repeat itself with the Browns, who have made the AFC playoffs just once since returning to the league in 1999. They’ve been doomed by poor drafts, injuries and gut-wrenching losses.

This season began with such promise, too. Just two days before Cleveland opened with a 20-3 win over Baltimore, the 1964 title team was honored at a star-studded gala where the old Browns received a championship trophy from NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

It was an emotional event, filled with stories of a time when Cleveland was the heart of pro football.

The evening ended with Hall of Famer Jim Brown, the greatest Brown of all, wrapping his arms around the bronzed trophy and lifting it off its base as several former teammates wiped away tears.

With a chilly wind whipping through Miami on Sunday, Brown was on the Cleveland sideline as Mare’s kick sailed through the uprights. All he could do was watch.