The day after Christmas is known for being one on which people have letdowns, but the Browns have had just one in three tries in important games on Dec. 26 in history.
That is, they are 2-1, with their wins coming in back-to-back league title games 60 years ago.
Here’s how it happened:
*1954 – Browns 56, Detroit Lions 10 – NFL Championship Game – at Cleveland Stadium – Head coach Paul Brown was on top of everything with his Browns. Maybe, in some regards, too much so.
After having lost to the Lions 17-7 and 17-16 in the NFL title contests in 1952 and ’53, and knowing both times that they had the better teams, the Browns were frustrated. The players thought Brown, who called all the offensive plays, had been too cautious in those games – that is, playing not to lose instead instead of playing to win. So they met secretly without Brown in a hotel room the night before the 1954 game and decided to overrule him and have a more aggressive approach. They would audible out of the plays Brown sent in if they didn’t like them. They had never done that before.
That was the easy part, making the decision to do it. Much harder was having the courage to go through with it, knowing that if things didn’t go well, Brown would be furious. He might be furious anyway – the offense was his baby, and the best part of the offense for him was calling plays – so they knew there was no room for error.
As evidenced by the score, the players were exactly right. They had nothing to worry about. Brown was not unhappy. On the contrary, he was thrilled. He wanted to win just as badly as they did.
Otto Graham threw for three touchdowns and ran for three more in an incredible performance as the Browns blew out to a 35-10 halftime lead and won their first NFL crown since 1950. They had scored 11 more points in one half than they had in the two previous games combined.
Graham’s passing scores included two to wide receiver Ray Renfro covering 35 and 31 yards , and an eight-yarder to wideout Darrell Brewster. He had two one-yard scoring runs and a five-yarder.
He was 9 of 12 passing overall with two interceptions.
Renfro had five receptions for 94 yards.
The Browns were also superb defensively, intercepting the great Bobby Layne six times and holding him to 18 of 42 passing.The Browns could exhale. They had finally taken the roar out of the Lions.
*1955 — Browns 38, Los Angeles Rams 14 – NFL Championship Game – at Memorial Coliseum – Otto Graham had retired after the 1954 title game. But he left the door open for a return, telling head coach Paul Brown to let him know if he couldn’t find a suitable replacement. Brown couldn’t come up with his man and sent an SOS to Graham, who suited up again.
Graham was a little rusty at first, but quickly got his groove back. And by the title game, he was really rolling.
He showed it, too, following up his great performance against Detroit the year before with another one. Graham passed for two TDs and ran for two more, giving him five passing scores and five running scores in the last two championship games, as the Browns won their second straight NFL crown and third in six years since joining the league in 1950.
Before that, they had captured four straight titles in the All-America Football Conference from 1946-49, meaning that they had made it to the league title game in each of their 10 years of existence, with seven championships, all with Graham at the helm. The Browns were 10-for-10, and 7-for-10. No team had been that good before, or has since.
Graham had a one-yard TD run and a 15-yarder. He threw a 50-yard scoring pass to Dante Lavelli and a 35-yarder to Ray Renfro. Overall, he was 14 of 25 passing for two TDs with three interceptions that, in effect, were meaningless. Lavelli and Renfro combined for five receptions for 104 yards.
Just as they had done the year before to Detroit’s Bobby Lane, the Browns were all over the Los Angeles quarterbacks. They had a total of seven interceptions, including six off Van Brocklin.
The Browns were the undisputed kings of football, and Graham was the undisputed king of quarterbacks. He had nothing left to accomplish and as such announced his retirement following the game, this time for good.
*1971 – Baltimore Colts 20, Browns 3 – AFC divisional playoffs – at Cleveland Stadium – The Browns had upset the defending Super Bowl champion Colts 14-13 in Baltimore three months before, but it was a different story this time. Although the Browns had ended the regular season with five straight wins to finish 9-5 and capture their first AFC Central crown, they were flat against the Colts, following behind 14-0 at halftime and never recovering.
The Browns’ only score came on a 14-yard field goal by Don Cockroft in the third quarter. They got to the Baltimore 12 early in the game but fumbled the ball away. That seemed to take the wind out of them and they never got it back.
Bill Nelsen completed just 9 of 21 passes for 104 yards and threw three interceptions.
For Baltimore, which defeated the Browns in the playoffs for the second time in four years, both at Cleveland, Kent State product Don Nottingham rushed for a game-high 92 yards and two TDs. His teammate in the backfield, Cleveland native and Ohio State product Tom Matte, ran for 26 yards and had three receptions for 22 yards. Matte rushed for three touchdowns in the Colts’ 34-0 win over the Browns in the 1968 NFL Championship Game.
The Browns’ season was done, but they would make one more trip to the playoffs before a long dry spell ensued.
