Don Shula’s perfect season not the only one

Don Shula's perfect seasonMIAMI, FLORIDA - DECEMBER 16: Don Shula, Coach of the Miami Dolphins speaks with Quarterback Bob Griese and Quarterback Earl Morrall during an NFL football game against the Baltimore Colts in the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, December 16, 1972. The Dolphins defeated the Colts 16-0 in the final game of their regular season which led to their 17-0 undefeated season with their win against the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII. (Photo by Ross Lewis/Getty Images)

Posted By: County Sports Network May 5, 2020

Don Shula’s perfect season not the only one

By STEVE KING

With the recent passing of the great Don Shula, his accomplishment that is being spotlighted more than any other is Don Shula’s perfect season in 1972 with the Miami Dolphins.

That’s hardly surprising.

The Dolphins went 17-0 and won the Super Bowl, their closest call coming in the AFC divisional playoffs when they had to come from behind late in the fourth quarter to defeat the Browns, 20-14, on Christmas Eve afternoon at the Orange Bowl.

Don Shula’s perfect season is being billed as the only perfect season – all wins, with no losses or ties — in pro football history.

But that’s not at all correct.

It’s the only perfect season in NFL history, but it’s not the only perfect season in pro football history.

There is another one, and it was turned in by the Browns in 1948, when Shula was playing on the east side of Cleveland at John Carroll University. It was also three years before he joined the club as a ninth-round choice in the 1951 NFL Draft.

In 1948, when the Indians captured their last World Series title and the Barons won the American Hockey League crown to give Cleveland the title of “City of Champions,” the Browns finished a perfect 15-0 to earn their third straight All-America Football Conference title.

Just like it wasn’t easy for the 1972 Dolphins, it also wasn’t easy for the 1948 Browns to win every game, with no from for error. In fact, it was downright hard.

The 1948 Browns:

Don Shula's perfect season not the only one
CLEVELAND, OH – 1948: Members of the Cleveland Browns pose for a team portrait in 1948 at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. The members are (L to R) (front row) trainer Walter Bock, Leonard Simonetti, Dean Sensanbaugher, Warren Lahr, George Terlep, Ed Ulinski, Tommy James, Alex Agase, Assistant Trainer Morrie Kono; (second row) Fritz Heisler, Ollie Cline, Ara Parseghian, Otto Graham, Cliff Lewis, Lou Saban, Bob Gaudio, Billy Boedeker, Bob Cowan, Edgar “Special Delivery” Jones, John Brickels; (third row) head coach Paul Brown, Blanton Collier, Dante Lavelli, Chubby Grigg, Tom Colella, Frank Kosikowski, Mel Maceau, Lin Houston, Tony Adamle, Weldon Humble, Marion Motley, Bill Edwards, Dick Gallagher; (fourth row) Horace Gillom, George Young, Frank Gatski, Dub Jones, Lou Rymkus, John Yonakor, Mac Speedie, Ben Pucci, Lou Groza, Bill Willis, Chet Adams. (Photo by: Henry Barr Collection/Diamond Images/Getty Images)

*Won their opener by just 19-14 over the Los Angeles Dons.

*Beat the Baltimore Colts by only 14-10 in Week 5.

*Played their last four regular-season games on the road, including three in just one week – one week, an eight-day span! – on opposite coasts over their three biggest rivals. It had never happened before in pro football history, it has never happened since and it will never happen again, ever. You can count on it. It started with a 34-21 win over the New York Yankees on Sunday, Nov. 21, was followed by a 31-14 victory over the Dons on Thursday, Nov. 25 (Thanksgiving Day) and culminated with a 31-28 triumph over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Nov. 28. Then the Browns went back to the East Coast to finish the regular season by defeating the Brooklyn Dodgers 31-21 to push their record to 14-0. Their championship game victory was a lot more one-sided. 49-7 over the Buffalo Bills.

Those who think the AAFC was an inferior league had better think again. When the Browns went into the NFL in 1950 following winning their fourth AAFC title in a row in 1949, they rolled through the “bigger league” as well, winning the league championship that first year. They followed that up with five more NFL title game appearances in a row, winning two championships.

There’s another cool thing about the 1948 Browns. They beat the Dodgers 30-17 on Sunday night, Oct. 10 to go to 6-0. That afternoon, the Indians, with a 3-1 lead in games, tried to close out the Boston Braves in Game 5 of the World Series but lost 11-3. Both games were played at Cleveland Stadium, marking the first – and only time – in the years that they shared the facility that they both played there on the same day. The baseball game drew an all-time Indians record home crowd of 86,288. That, coupled with the Browns’ crowd of 31,187, means that the games drew a combined total of 117,475 fans.

 A month later at the stadium, on Nov. 14, in their 14-7 win over the 49ers, the Browns drew 82,769, which stood as their home record crowd for 12 years almost to the day. It was broken on Nov. 6, 1960 when 82,872 – just 103 more – showed up to see the Browns lose 17-13 to the New York Giants.

By the way, the Browns’ all-time record home crowd came in the season opener on Sept. 21, 1970 when 85,703 attended their 31-21 win over the New York Jets in the first Monday Night Football game. That record will likely never be broken – at least not in the foreseeable future – because the capacity of FirstEnergy Stadium is just 67,895.

I wonder if Don Shula, who had just coached his first regular-season game with the Dolphins the day before (a stunning 27-14 loss to the Boston Patriots), watched that Browns-Jets game? Probably not. He was likely burning the midnight oil trying to fix the problems on his own team.

Cleveland Browns:

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