By STEVE KING

The Browns’ 70-year rivalry with the Pittsburgh Steelers is one in which the teams have looked at consistent success against each other as the measuring stick to determine if they’ve become a title contender.

For instance, the Browns dominated the series in the first two decades, the 1950s and ‘60s. Oh, sure, the Steelers won a few times, such as in 1954, when their first victory ever over the Browns came by a lopsided 55-27 count at Forbes Field. I grew up in the Akron area, and my buddy’s dad, a Pittsburgh native, would often tell the story of he and his family gathered around that big ol’ Zenith, the size of a two present-day stoves put side by side, and hooting and hollering as they belted down some Iron City, as the “Stillers,” as he called them, finally gave “those Brownies a taste of their own medicine.”

But it was like Mongo, the burly character played by Detroit Lions Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive tackle Alex Karras, in the long-ago movie, “Blazing Saddles.” “Don’t shoot him,” a man advised. “You’re just going to make him mad.”

Oh!

Losing like that to Pittsburgh in a game they were caught just nailing it in, just made the Browns mad. It wasn’t the Stillers’ coming-out party. So the Browns simply went back to getting their heads in the game and began to beat the Stillers within an inch of their lives for the next decade and a half.

Then came the 1970s, and the script began to flip, with the Steelers coming of age for the first time in their history and the Browns falling into disrepair for the first time in their history. But the Steelers knew that for their transformation to be complete, they had to beat the Browns regularly, and that included winning in Cleveland, where they had lost nine in a row from 1965-73. In 1974, the Steelers broke The Cleveland Stadium Jinx (full disclosure here: there was never any such nickname; I just made it up) by winning at Cleveland and sweeping the season series with the Browns for the first time since Dan Rooney was in knickers. Not surprisingly, then, with the Browns conquered, the Steelers that season won their first Super Bowl, and again in 1975, when they swept the Browns once more, and in 1978 and ‘79, with two more clean sweeps of Cleveland.

The Browns’ great run through the last half of the 1980s began in earnest in 1986 when they won at Three Rivers Stadium for the first time and swept the Steelers for the first time in 17 years.

“The Steelers weren’t our rivals then. We beat them all the time,” former Browns wide receiver Brian Brennan said.
The expansion era? The Steelers dominated the Browns en route to winning two Super Bowls. Now it’s 2021 and the Browns, coming off a season in which they beat the Steelers in three tries, including in the playoffs, are looking to prove that they’re not just shooting stars and can handle the Steelers with regularity as they get set to host them on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium.

There is a whole lot on the line as the Browns look to get on a roll and become serious contenders on a yearly basis while the fading Steelers attempt to hold on for one more season.

Why? Because history tells us so.