On February 15, 1996 Art Modell fired Bill Belichick.
Conventional wisdom is that the Browns fired Belichick but that is not factually correct. Six days prior to his termination the NFL owners approved the franchise’s move to Baltimore. The league also announced an agreement with Cleveland that would keep the Browns name and history in the city for a new team to begin play by 1999. Technically Belichick was fired by a Baltimore franchise that had yet to be named the Ravens.
Regardless of the timeline, Cleveland never embraced BB – and the Browns seem to have suffered from the Curse of Belichick ever since.