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As guarantees go, this one is a bit unusual. Instead of a promise to make a positive achievement, Browns linebacker Chris Kirksey vows that his team will avoid the ultimate failure: A winless season.

“We’re not going to go 0-16,” Kirksey said after a 35-10 loss to the Cowboys, which dropped the team to 0-9. “That’s for a fact. We’re not doing that. Things are going to get on a roll, and we’ve just got to keep fighting.”

Does a desire to avoid matching the “achievements” of the 2008 Lions motivate the 2016 Browns?

“That’s motivation,” Kirksey said. “I don’t know if I’m supposed to say this, but we’re not going winless. We’re not.”

The next opportunity to get a win comes in Baltimore in four days. After that, the Browns will have six more chances to get that one win in 16 tries that only the Lions of eight years ago failed to manage.