Can the Browns repeat the magic that happened exactly 55 years ago on this site?
It was Sept. 21, 1970 that the host Browns opened the season by capturing a thrilling 31-21 victory over quarterback Joe Namath and the New York Jets in the first Monday Night Football game.
In the months, weeks and days leading up to the game, most people laughed and said no one would watch a pro football game on a weekday night. To that end, less than half of the affiliates along the ABC network, which was airing the game, opted to pick up the telecast. Instead, they showed the network’s nornal Monday night lineup of programming.
It should be pointed out that executives at both the NFL and ABC were privately wondering if, in trying to take advantage of the excitement over the completion of the NFL-AFL merger, they had happened upon a great idea that would take off like a rocket, or if they had just done the dumbest thing in the history of televised sports and would be stuck with 13 more white elephants, one for each of the remaining 13 weeks of the regular season.
What occurred was something beyond even the most hopeful people’s wildest dreams. To be sure, it was a perfect storm.
The game, which was between two of the best teams in the NFL at the time, went right down to the final minute.
Also helping — a lot — to make for an incredibly electric atmosphere was that 85,703, which will forever stand as the largest home crowd in Browns history, sat — and stood — in every square foot of Cleveland Stadium to witness this new-fangled spectacle, making all the noise of a typical pro football gathering in Cleveland.
It was must-see TV, so much so that in a few short .weeks, all the ABC affiliates jumped on board with the telecasts with both feet as MNF started on the path to becoming the broadcast juggernaut that we know it as today. All the ingredients for something really special were there that unseasonsbly warm, humid night as summer gave way to fall, though no one could have grasped it at the time.
On what is predicted to be an unseasonably warm, humid Sunday afternoon, as summer gives way to fall, at Huntington Bank Field, located on the same footprint of its predecessor, the current Browns host the Green Bay Packers needing just as much magic — but in an entirely different way — as was swirling in the air on the lakefront on that evening more than a half-century ago.
These Browns of embattled head coach Kevin Stefanski aren’t nearly as good as those of iconic head coach Blanton Collier. In fact, at 0-2 and sinking fast after last Sunday’s 41-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, they havent’t been very good at all.
And in having to face the 2-0 Packers, who at this early juncture are looking very much like a Super Bowl contender with the addition of all-everything linebacker Micah Parsons, the Browns have a tough task ahead of them in trying to get an upset win and keep this season from starting to really get away from
them almost as it is just beginning.
Indeed, perhaps even more than the Packers wanting to win to keep going, the young Browns want to win and get going.
Against the Jets in 1970, the hero of the night was a little-known player who came out of nowhere, as linebacker Billy Andrews intercepted Namath’s short pass over the middle and returned it 25 yards for touchdown with just over a minute left to seal the victory. It started a tradition of unsung players coming up big to star in MNF games.
This isn’t on MNF — no Monday night madness to be had here — but it’s a big game nonetheless. Wouldn’t it be cool — and fitting — if on the anniversary of that game, somebody comes out of the shadows once again and makes a play to win it for the Browns, creating some Sunday afternoon madness?
Just dig in the dirt and see if you can find something special from the distant past.
Browns Fan Essentials on Amazon
Celebrate Joe Flacco’s unforgettable run and show your Dawg Pound pride with these fan favorites:
Note: We are compensated for purchases made through links on this website
