After the Cleveland Browns left for Baltimore in 1996, the City of Cleveland got back their Browns’ team with an expansion team in 1999. And everything was back to normal in the AFC Central.
Well, sort of.
The problem was, the club that ended up in Baltimore was a club with established players on an ascending path, and the new franchise placed in Cleveland was brand spanking new with castoffs from other teams. All of those years suddenly vanished. To another city. In the same conference. Placed in the same division. To compete with their former players who the city had grown to love and admire.