The Cleveland Browns were 0-14 last year before they beat the Chargers on Christmas Eve. The lone victory effectively canceled the first Perfect Season Parade. It was bittersweet.

Instead of marching around FirstEnergy Stadium, over a route that was mapped out to look like “0-16” from a bird’s-eye view, parade organizers stood down. They donated the ten grand they raised to the Cleveland Food Bank. The Browns organization later matched the donation.

Here we go again.

The Browns are one loss away from 0-16 this season. They can effectively cancel Perfect Season Parade 2.0 if they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Sunday’s regular-season finale. Cleveland is divided.

There is a faction of Browns fans who wouldn’t mind seeing the Steelers win, just to have a parade, so they can share their embarrassment with Browns management. There is a larger faction that would like the Browns to beat the Steelers — just win a damned game, you know? — and forgo the parade, just like last year.

Among the latter group is Chris McNeil of Granville, parade organizer, Twitter bon vivant (@Reflog_18), creator of Cleveland sports memes and die-hard Browns fan. He would prefer that the Browns just win a damned game — but if they don’t, he’s ready to march with thousands of his best friends.

“Last year, it was like, ‘Why wallow in it? Let’s have a little fun — and then get our football team back,’ ” McNeil said Saturday.

You know, like a phoenix rising from the ashes.

“This year,” McNeil said, “it’s like, ‘Come on, you’re making us do this again?’ The protest part has moved front-and-center. We’ve gone two years with one win, and if any fan base ever had a right to (demand change), it’s this fan base.”

There is yet another faction of Clevelanders who view a Perfect Season Parade 2.0 as a civic embarrassment. They have memories of burning rivers and 10-cent beer nights dancing in their heads, and they see an anti-parade parade as another potential black eye.

Lighten up, Francis.

I’m with Reflog. If you follow him on Twitter, you know that he is as clever and belly-laugh funny as he is critical. He punches with kid gloves, and he never punches down. He embraces critics who come after him in kind — and he is flummoxed by those who attack him with vitriol and threats of bodily harm.

“Cleveland was the butt of jokes for years,” McNeil said. “There is still some of that sensitivity. We’re trying to move people past that: The Cavs won a championship; the Indians were in the World Series; the downtown is being revitalized; heck, even the Cleveland Monsters won a Calder Cup. We’ve got a lot to be proud of.

“This (parade) is us taking control of the narrative and telling the Browns they are the cold sore on an otherwise good, to very good, to sometimes great, sports landscape.”

In a certain sense, the Perfect Season Parade is a foray into the same territory as the #SaveTheCrew movement: shaming the shameless.

We like to think that disgruntled fans are now heard on the heightening tide of social media, yet, owners are increasingly above the fray.

It’s like this: Whatever price billionaire Jimmy Haslam paid for the Browns, and no matter how bad the team is on the field, he and/or his children are going to make money on the deal. Crushing a community trust may be unfortunate, but it is just a cost of doing business.

Whether or not anyone marches around the Factory of Sadness beginning at noon Saturday, Cleveland fans are having their voices heard. That is a rare and beautiful thing in the landscape of modern professional sports. To fans all over Ohio, and from sea to shining sea, it should be a source of inspiration. Cheers.

marace@dispatch.com

@MichaelArace1