Browns Fans Finally Get Their Free Beers as Cleveland Snaps 19-game Winless Run

The Cleveland Browns have their first win in 635 days, Baker Mayfield has announced his arrival in the NFL and Browns fans finally had access to free beer.

Among other things, Thursday night's 21-17 win over the New York Jets finally unlocked the fridges Bud had strategically placed around Cleveland last month. The brewer had said the so-called "Victory Fridges" were kept shut by a complex locking system, which ensured the chains holding the doors closed were held up by a magnet and would only open once the Browns won a game.

Having gone close in the first two games of the season, the Browns finally got over the line on Thursday, snapping a 19-game winless streak and giving their fans a chance to celebrate with free beers.

Soon after the game ended, the Browns' official Twitter account had a pretty clear message for the brewer and Bud duly obliged.

If anyone was caught in two minds about it, it was the Cleveland Police. Clearly delighted to see the Browns win a game, the local law enforcement wanted to ensure nobody got too carried away with the free beer on offer.

Videos of fans witnessing fridges being opened soon began circulating on the internet. However, Cleveland being Cleveland, it took longer than expected to get some fridges open, with stubborn locks determined to heap misery on long-suffering Browns fans for a little longer.

The "Victory Fridges" initiative had proved so popular that some fans even made their own, complete with chains to dissuade any attempt of getting beers out before a Browns win.

It wasn't just fans who seemed to enjoy having access to free beers, as a picture tweeted by Associated Press reporter Tom Withers showed a fridge in the Browns' press box had almost been completely cleaned out of beer.

After the game, Mayfield, who completed 17 of his 24 attempted passes for 201 yards and was instrumental in leading the Browns home, enquired whether the fridges had been opened.

Largely thanks to him, they had and even former WWE champion The Miz got a slice of the action.

"Dilly dilly to the Cleveland fans," Mayfield quipped, referencing Bud Light's well-known commercial.

"Cleveland deserves a win, but we're not done yet. So don't break the dilly dilly coolers too hard; just enjoy it. We deserve it, but at the same time we're just getting started."

Before Thursday night, the Browns had last won a game on December 24, 2016, ending a 17-game losing streak with a 20-17 win against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The win, however, proved to be the most deceiving of false dawns as the Browns then embarked on a 19-game winless run which only ended last night.