This is where it all started in earnest for the Browns.
It was 69 years ago today, on Dec. 22, 1946, that the Browns won the first of their eight league titles, coming from behind to edge the New York Yankees 14-9 in the All-America Football Conference Championship Game before 40, 469 at Cleveland Stadium.
The game-winning points were provided by Otto Graham’s 16-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Dante Lavelli with 4:31 left.
The start-up Browns had waltzed their way through the regular season in the inaugural year of the AAFC, compiling a 12-2 record and scoring a whopping 423 points, or an average of 30.2 per game, while allowing just 137 (9.8).
They scored 42 or more points four times, including 66, still an overall club record, in the finale. In the three games before that, they tallied 51, 42 and 34 points.
The Browns posted two shutouts in their first three games and had four overall on the year. They held each of their first six opponents to single-digits scoring, and eight overall.
They won games by margins of 52, 44, 37 and 28 points.
Yes, head coach Paul Brown’s club was a true juggernaut.
The Browns had rolled past the Yankees 24-7 at Cleveland in the fourth game of the season, but had a much tougher time two weeks later in the rematch at Yankee Stadium, winning just 7-0 on a third-quarter touchdown that, ironically, came on Graham’s 33-yard pass to Lavelli.
The title game was a repeat of that second contest with how tight it was. The Yankees led 3-0 after one quarter and 9-7 after three quarters. Cleveland’s only score during that time was a two-yard TD run by fullback Marion Motley.
That set the stage for Graham, for the first time in grand fashion as a pro, to do what he would do countless times during his 10-year career with the Browns, and that is to come through in the biggest situations. He was the ultimate winner. He is the poster boy for the adage that the quarterback’s most important job is to win games, nothing else..
Graham completed 16 of 27 passes overall for 213 yards and the TD with an interception.
Lavelli, from Hudson (Ohio) High School and Ohio State, caught six passes for 87 yards, while his running mate at wide receiver, Mac Speedie, also had six receptions, gaining 71 yards. Running back Edgar Jones added three catches for 45 yards.
Motley rushed for 98 yards in just 13 carries, averaging 7.5 yards per try.
The Cleveland defense was outstanding, holding New York to just 65 yards rushing and 81 passing as two quarterbacks completed only 8 of 20 attempts for no TDs with an interception.
No one knew it at the time, but this victory was just the beginning of an extraordinary 10-year run by the Browns.
