Browns Fans Are Ramping Up '#FailForCardale' Campaign for Cardale Jones

Welp, the cycle has begun again, Cleveland.

Like beasts of the Serengeti converging on Pride Rock, Browns fans everywhere gathered to watch Ohio State's season opener against Virginia Tech on Monday with the express purpose of finding the franchise's next great Chosen One.

It didn't take long for them to nominate Cardale Jones, who received the last-minute starting nod for the Buckeyes and proceeded to chuck up off-balance thunder bombs against the Hokies like the beer league title was on the line.

Jones' overall acquittal earned the Buckeyes a 42-24 win and, more importantly, prompted Browns fans to throw the "#FailForCardale" campaign into fifth gear.

Not a single moment of meaningful football has been played in the 2015 NFL season, but Browns fans already have their Simba, and they will hold him on high with mandrill arms made of suffering and institutional distrust:

"

fail for cordale? #FailForCardale

— Stephen G. Buckets (@StephenPorterJr) January 2, 2015"

Hundreds of tweets like these erupted Monday, and the hashtag is already spreading to other fanbases:

Of course, some think demanding the team tank at this juncture might be a little premature:

"

@browns I am willing to sacrifice the entire season for @CJ12_ . Just go 0-16 #failforcardale

— Abe Mangan (@abebrohamm) September 8, 2015"

For what it's worth, #FailForCardale began long before Monday night.

The hashtag has been floating around Twitter for a while now. The earliest one I can find came out Jan. 1, 2015—more than a week before Jones led his team to a national title.

So #FailForCardale has been bubbling on the back burner for Browns fans, many of whom are also Buckeyes fans who watched Jones take over last season in crunch time and lead Ohio State to a national championship by summarily dismissing teams like Alabama and Oregon.

And the truth is Cleveland could do worse than to lose games hoping for a shot at Jones.

Tanking to improve draft position has become a time-honored tradition in American professional sports, to mixed results. While teams like the Philadelphia 76ers have implemented it as permanent franchise strategy, others have used it sparingly to positive results.

Take the Indianapolis Colts, for example. Colts fans employed the "Suck For Luck" strategy in 2012 in the hopes of bagging then-Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. The plan worked, and ever since landing Luck, Colts fans have had the immense pleasure of their team being good enough to lose to the New England Patriots in the playoffs every year.

Granted, this kind of sustained uptick would be welcome in Cleveland, given the huge hole remaining at the quarterback situation.

The Browns' current option at quarterback is Josh McCown, who they brought on board this offseason to serve as a human drink coaster as they wait for a messiah to come along or for Johnny Manziel to magically revert to collegiate form. This means a breakout year including a deep playoff run for the Browns is, well, only possible in the most mathematical sense. Feels like prime tanking weather to me.

As for Jones, he's a young savant with a terrifying mix of traditional and unconventional tools that include monstrous arm strength, Johnny Football-like instincts and a 6'5", 250-pound frame to cushion those instincts against immediate and drastic reprisal. So he's got that going for him, which is nice.

But then again, it's Cleveland, where a new Simba is held up, given a few snaps and then punted into the hyena pit every season. So have fun breaking the circle.

Dan is on Twitter. He really hopes to not see Jones' name crossed out on that sad, sad jersey.