There’s all this talk about the Browns having the chance to sweep the season series from the Pittsburgh Steelers for the first time in 34 years by winning on Sunday at Heinz Field.
The Browns won the teams’ first meeting this year, 29-17 in Week 3 on Sept. 22 at FirstEnergy Stadium. They trailed 14-13 at halftime and then outscored the Steelers 16-3 in the second half. Jacoby Brissett passed for 220 yards and two scores, to Amari Cooper and David Njoku. Nick Chubb rushed for 113 yards and a TD as the Browns ran for 171 yards overall. The defense got a TD on the final play to seal the deal when cornerback Denzel Ward recovered a fumble in the end zone on the final play.
It was 1988 when the Browns beat the Steelers 23-9 at Three Rivers Stadium early in the year, on Oct. 2, and then ran past them 27-7 seven weeks later, on Nov. 20, in Cleveland.
What you may not know, or recall, though, is that 1988 marked the third straight year the Browns swept the season series from Pittsburgh, having also done so in 1986 and ’87, amounting to six straight victories overall over the Steelers in those three years.
Here’s a quick look at the clubs’ meetings from 1986-88.
*Browns 27, Steelers 24 — Oct. 5, 1986 — at Three Rivers Stadium – The Browns broke the so-called Three Rivers Jinx by winning in the stadium for the first time after 16 losses since it opened in 1970. That made it the Browns’ first win in Pittsburgh overall since 1969 at Pitt Stadium. The Browns raced to a 10-0 first-quarter lead and were still ahead 17-14 at halftime after Gerald “Ice Cube” McNeil’s 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. The Browns, however, trailed 24-20 in the fourth quarter until Earnest Byner’s four-yard TD run, and they then clinched the victory when Clay Matthews stripped quarterback Mark Malone of the ball on a keeper in Cleveland territory and fellow linebacker Eddie Johnson recovered.
*Browns 37, Steelers 31 (overtime) – Nov. 23, 1986 – at Cleveland Stadium – The teams battled back and forth all day, with Gary Anderson’s 40-yrd field goal tying it 31-31 at the end of regulation. The Browns won it when Bernie Kosar, who threw for 414 yards, tossed his second touchdown pass of the game by hitting streaking rookie wide receiver Webster Slaughter in stride with a 36-yarder down the left sideline.
*Browns 34, Steelers 10 – Sept. 20, 1987 – at Cleveland Stadium — The Browns led just 10-3 at halftime and then outscored Pittsburgh 17-0 in the fourth quarter to pull away for the win in the teams’ last game before the NFL players’ strike. Bernie Kosar threw two touchdown passes, to Clarence Weathers and Gerald McNeil, Kevin Mack scored on a one-yard run and Clay Matthews returned an interception 26 yards for a TD. The defense held Pittsburgh to just 185 total yards.
*Browns 19, Steelers 13 – Dec. 26, 1987 – at Three Rivers Stadium – The Browns clinched their third consecutive AFC Central championship by holding off the Steelers in a defensive struggle in the regular-season finale in a nationally-televised Saturday afternoon game. The Browns were ahead 9-3 at halftime and then 19-6 in the fourth quarter before Pittsburgh’s Cornell Gowdy returned an interception for a touchdown to make it just a six-point game. The Browns then clinched the win by controlling the ball on a long drive and running out the clock. The Browns got TDs on Bernie Kosar’s two-yard pass to tight end Derek Tennell and Earnest Byner’s two-yard run.
*Browns 23, Steelers 9 – Oct. 2, 1988 – at Three Rivers Stadium – The Browns took advantage of five Pittsburgh turnovers and the fact they limited the Steelers to only 188 total yards. Leading just 13-9 after three quarters, the Browns clinched the win with rookie safety Brian Washington’s 75-yard interception return for a touchdown and Matt Bahr’s third field goal of the day, a 40-yarder. Cleveland’s other TD came on a one-yard run by Tim Manoa.
*Browns 27, Steelers 7 – Nov. 20, 1988 – at Cleveland Stadium – The Browns bolted to a 17-0 second-quarter lead and never looked back. Bernie Kosar threw two touchdown passes, a two-yarder to Derek Tennell and a 77-yarder to Reggie Langhorne. Their other TD came on Frank Minniefield’s 11-yard return of a blocked punt. Cleveland sacked quarterback Bubby Brister six times for 53 yards in losses.
“We hardly ever lost to the Steelers when I was with the Browns,” said Brin Brennan, a star wide receiver from 1984-91. “Our rival really was the Denver Broncos.”
In their division title-clinching win at Pittsburgh in the 1987 regular-season finale at Three Rivers Stadium, the Browns, ahead by just 19-13 with a lot of time left in the fourth quarter, were so calm and so confident that they were going to be hold the ball and run out the clock to win the game that, while waiting on the field during a TV timeout before the possession began, they played “Name That Tune” with the songs being played over the public address system.
By the way, the Browns opened the 1989 season – and Bud Carson’s tenure as their head coach — by beating Pittsburgh 51-0 at Three Rivers Stadium, winning their seventh straight game over the Steelers and handing them their most lopsided defeat in history.
Steve King
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