With the teams having a combined record of just 6-18, Sunday’s game between the Browns and San Francisco 49ers at FirstEnergy Stadium certainly won’t have any championship implications.

 

But that was not the case 66 years ago today at Cleveland Stadium, located on the footprint of the current facility.

 

It was on Dec. 11, 1949 that the Browns topped the 49ers 21-7 in the final All-America Football Conference Championship Game.

 

The Browns had won all four AAFC titles going back to 1946 and with their dominance had, in essence, put the league out of business. It’s not fun for everybody else – and even somewhat for the home fans, as evidenced by the sparse crowd of just 22,250 — when the same team wins all the time.

 

A merger of sorts with the NFL, going into effect for the 1950 season, had already been announced, with the Browns, 49ers and Baltimore Colts joining the bigger league and all the other AAFC teams dissolving.

 

It seemed fitting that the league’s “final” contest – an AAFC All-Star Game was held a week later – would be between the Browns and 49ers, the league’s two best teams and as such fierce rivals. The Browns had cut through the AAFC like a hot knife through butter, with the 49ers and Los Angeles Dons being the only clubs to give them any trouble. The Browns went 52-4-3 overall in the AAFC, with two of those losses coming to the Dons and the two being administered by the 49ers.

 

It should be pointed out, however, that the Dons’ victories came by just one and three points. The 49ers, on the other hand, had shown more muscles, beating the Browns 34-20 in that inaugural season of 1946 – at Cleveland, no less – and then doubling up on them, winning in a rout, 56-28, midway through 1949. The Browns came back three weeks later to edge the 49ers 30-28 at Cleveland.

 

So this was the rubber match, and the Browns proved what everyone already knew – that is, they were the better team.

 

The Browns got a two-yard touchdown run by Edgar “Special Delivery Jones” in the first quarter and Marion Motley’s 68-yard scoring burst in the third quarter to lead 14-0.

 

A TD pass by Frankie Albert in the fourth quarter cut the lead in half, 14-7, then Cleveland sealed the deal with Dub Jones’ four-yard scoring run.

 

Graham and Albert, the league’s two best quarterbacks by far, combined to throw for just 236 yards and one TD. With that, then, it was left up to the teams’ rushing attacks to decide the game, and that’s where the Browns had an overwhelming edge, gaining 217 yards to 122 for the 49ers.

 

Motley picked up 75 yards in eight carries, Edgar Jones 63 in 16 attempts and Graham, an excellent runner throughout his 10-year career, 62 in nine tries. They had all but 17 yards of Cleveland’s rushing total.

 

Wide receiver Dante Lavelli caught more than half of Graham’s seven completions (in 17 attempts), having four receptions for 56 yards.

 

With their two playoff wins, the Browns had finished the season with a record of 11-1-2 and completed a clean sweep of the AAFC over the four seasons. They had proved everything they could in that league. Now they would try to prove it in the NFL, where there were plenty of doubters.