The Browns and Tennessee Titans will meet on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium as complete strangers.
 
They’re both in the AFC, but not in the same division. As such, they meet only every so often.
 
But they used to be in the same division, the AFC Central, from 1970-95, when the Titans were known as the Houston Oilers, and then again from 1999-2001, and as such played twice a year every year. On one occasion, in 1988, they met three times, the last being in the wild-card playoffs.
 
Here’s a quick look at three of the most memorable games in the series between the two franchises:
 
Dec. 18, 1988 – Browns 28, Oilers 23 – at Cleveland – The Browns appeared to be dead, and as such so did their postseason hopes and their string of three consecutive playoff appearances.
 
With a 9-6 record and needing a win in this regular-season finale to get into the playoffs as a wild card, the Browns trailed the Oilers 23-7 with 9:03 left in the third quarter. The Browns still had plenty of time to make a comeback, but it seemed hopeless.
 
Don Strock, the fourth different quarterback the Browns had used that season because of a historic number of injuries, would have to get hot. But the problem was that the longtime Miami Dolphins backup, who was signed off a golf course by the desperate Browns, was looking his age, 38. Perhaps he had run out of hot hands and had only cold ones on this snowy, frigid afternoon a week before Christmas.
 
Then something miraculous happened. Just like that, the clock was turned back and a suddenly youthful-looking Strock got into a real groove, so much so that the usually stout Houston defense had no answer for him or his receivers.
 
He flipped a two-yard touchdown pass to running back Earnest Byner later in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 23-14.
 
Just two minutes into the fourth quarter, Strock did it again with another two-yarder to Byner. Now it was 23-21 and, with the snow falling steadily, the crowd of 74,610 was roaring.
 
The Cleveland defense kept holding the Oilers and giving the ball back to the offense. That’s all Strock needed. Using three passes to wide receiver Reggie Langhorne covering 47 yards, he drove the Browns down the field, throwing the 22-yard game-winning TD to wideout Webster Slaughter on a skinny post route with 6:23 left.
 
With their hard-fought, come-from-way-behind, five-point win, the Browns had made the playoffs once more and would face Houston again in a rematch at Cleveland six days later.
 
But they would begin worrying about that on Monday, for Sunday night was going to be one of celebration for both the rejuvenated Browns and their fans.
 
*Dec. 23, 1989 – Browns 24, Oilers 20 – at Houston – This was going to be easy.
At 8-6-1 and needing a victory in the regular-season finale to win their fourth AFC Central title since 1985 and earn their fifth straight playoff appearance, the Browns blew out to a rousing 17-0 lead early in the second quarter on quarterback Bernie Kosar’s two touchdown passes, a 68-yarder to running back Eric Metcalf and a 40-yarder to wide receiver Webster Slaughter, and a 32-yard field goal by Matt Bahr.
 
The only thing left to ponder was how many points the Browns were going to score, and how badly they were going to blow out Houston in its own building, the Astrodome.
 
But the Oilers would have none of it. They came roaring back with 20 straight points, capped by quarterback Warren Moon’s 27-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Drew Hill with 4:46 left in the fourth quarter to go on top for the first time, 20-17. The score came a play after Browns linebacker Clay Matthews recovered a snap that went over Moon’s head to seemingly seal the deal, only to fumble the ball back to Houston when he inexplicably tried to lateral to a teammate as he was being tackled.
 
Then the Browns put together their biggest drive not just of the game but of the season, and one of the biggest during their successful run through the last half of the 1980s. And they turned to none other than fullback Kevin Mack to do it.
 
The popular Mack had had a nightmarish season, spending 30 days in jail for illegal substance use and also undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery. He had begun practicing only a month before the finale.
 
But he was ready to go when the Browns, with their season on the line, took over at their 42. Handing the ball to Mack time and time again, the Browns marched for the game-winning score in nine plays, the last four yards coming as Mack, who gained 62 yards on 12 rushes on the day, carried a horde of Oilers into the end zone.
 
Mack’s teammates mobbed him. It was hard to tell if they were more happy that he had provided the victory that sent them to the playoffs, or because they thought so much of him and were glad he was back with them again and contributing.
 
*Sept. 22, 2002 – Browns 31, Titans 28 (overtime) – at Nashville – The Browns made the 2002 AFC playoffs as a wild card by the skin of their teeth, finishing 9-7 and getting in via tie-breakers. As such, every victory – really, every point, every first down and even every yard – really counted.
 
And so it was when the Browns (1-1) played Tennessee. Falling behind 21-7 at halftime and then 28-14 midway through the fourth quarter, they rallied on the arm of quarterback Tim Couch. He fired two touchdown passes to wide receivers, a 12-yarder to Andre Davis and then an eight-yarder to Dennis Northcutt with 12 seconds left to tie the score at 28-28.
 
The Browns won the coin toss to start OT and went right to work, marching 65 yards in eight plays to set up Phil Dawson to kick the game-winning 33-yard field goal.
 
Couch, playing for the first time since suffering an elbow injury in the preseason, was brilliant, completing a club-record 36 passes in 50 attempts for 326 yards and three touchdowns. Wideout Kevin Johnson caught nine passes for 90 yards while Davis grabbed five for 99 yards.