Browns almost met Chiefs in Super Bowl IV

By STEVE KING

This is a story about the past, present and future — not necessarily in that order, in some cases a mix of each one all at the same time — as the Browns continue to get ready for Sunday’s AFC divisional playoffs battle against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
Despite being part of the AFC together for 51 seasons — actually 48 on the field with the deletion of the three years, 1996-98, in which the Browns existed as a trust held by the NFL — Cleveland and Kansas City have never met in the playoffs.
But there was a time in which they almost played each other in the postseason. It was in the playoffs following the 1969 season, when they would have met in Super Bowl IV on Jan. 11, 1970 had the Browns won the NFL championship in their last year in the old NFL before going to the re-made AFL, the AFC, after the completion of the leagues’ merger for the 1970 reason. Instead, the Browns lost 27-7 to the Minnesota Vikings, who in turn were upset by the Chiefs 23-7 to capture the Super Bowl. That was the game that provided the popular NFL Films footage of Chiefs head coach Hank Stram on the sideline as his team “matriculated” its way up and down the field that day.
If the Browns can upset the Chiefs and Baltimore can go into Buffalo and defeat the Bills on Saturday in the conference’s other divisional game, then the “new” Browns and the former Browns, the Ravens, will meet in the AFC Championship Game. Think of the great storylines that could — and would — come out of that.
But if the Browns win and end up playing in the Bills in the AFC title, it would be a matchup of the two teams that would have met in the Super Bowl, if there had been one then, following the 1964 season. The Browns won the NFL title that year by routing the heavily-favored Baltimore Colts 27-0 and the Bills topped the San Diego Chargers 20-7 ro earn the AFL crown. The Bills won the AFL team again in 1965, defeating the Chargers again, this time by 23-0, but the Browns lost 23-12 to the Green Bay Packers in the NFL Championship Game.