BEREA, Ohio — A Cleveland Browns fan for 36 years, Geoff Myers cringed when his team fell short of the Super Bowl in the 1980s, wept when it left for Baltimore in the 1990s and sulked as its successor failed to make the playoffs every year except one since the Browns resumed play a decade and a half ago.

So Myers might be forgiven for wearing a shirt to a recent Browns practice that captured both his manic devotion to the team and the futility of that endeavor.

“Just One Before I Die,” it read.

“I’ll burn this shirt if they win,” Myers said with a chuckle that suggested he did not expect to light a bonfire anytime soon.

Many of the 3,000 other spectators that day were willing to throw caution to the wind largely because of Johnny Manziel. From the instant he was drafted 22nd over all in May — eliciting cheers from fans who packed Radio City Music Hall — Manziel became a magnet for the hopes of Browns backers who have not savored a title since 1964, the year the Beatles arrived in the United States and the last time Cleveland celebrated a major championship.