EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the second in a four-part series on the top 41 Browns teams of all-time. Here we will chronicle spots 21 through 30.
The sensational ’60s.
They really were for the Browns.
Especially from 1963-69, the Browns were among the top teams in the NFL. When the talk was title contenders, Cleveland had to be mentioned during that seven-year span.
The Browns made four NFL Championship Game appearances, got to the postseason another time and narrowly the playoffs on two other occasions, including once when they had double-digit wins.
Maybe it’s because of the overwhelming success of the teams from the 1940s and ’50s.
Maybe it’s also because of the tremendous popularity of the Kardiac Kids clubs, and those from the Bernie Kosar era of the last half of the 1980s.
Maybe because it was so long ago. We’re talking 50 years, a whole half-century.
But whatever the reason, or reasons, the 1960s don’t really get their due. They’re not recognized for just how good they were.
And this could be why some of the more-than-deserving players from those teams, such as wide receiver Gary Collins and left tackle Dick Schafrath, aren’t even on the radar screen of the Seniors Committee of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee. That’s a shame. No names please, but there are some players enshrined in Canton who couldn’t hold a candle to Collins, with his team-record 70 touchdown catches playing 16-game seasons, and Schafrath, with six trips to the Pro Bowl – all in a row.
Anyway, we’re not going to be fooled, or dissuaded, by that, however. We recognize the 1960s for being what they were – sensational.
In fact, we’ve included four teams from the 1960s in the 10 spots from 21 through 30 on the top 41 Browns clubs of all-time. That ties for the second-most number of teams from a decade in any of the four parts in this series.
Let’s take a look:
Brian’s (swan) song
No. 30 – 1983 – finished 9-7 in the regular season and in second place in the AFC Central, a game behind the champion Pittsburgh Steelers; did not make the postseason, losing out on tie-breakers to the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos, also both 9-7, for the conference’s two wild-card playoff spots – This was the final year for the Kardiac Kids era – and its triggerman, quarterback Brian Sipe. He would leave the Browns at the end of the season for the big money being offered by Donald Trump – yes, that Donald Trump, the owner of the New Jersey Generals of the fledgling USFL. Sipe’s offensive coordinator in New Jersey, by the way, would be a man by the name of Chris Palmer, who would become head coach of the re-born Browns in 1999. Cleveland head coach Sam Rutigliano, whose success was indelibly linked to that of Sipe, urged the quarterback to take it. It was a deal too good to pass up. But before Sipe left, he had some unfinished business to attend to. Since that magical 1980 season, when he led the team to an 11-5 record and its first AFC Central title in nine seasons en route to being named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player, it had been a rough road for Sipe and the Browns. The Browns flipped their record in 1981, finishing 5-11 as Sipe threw eight more interceptions (25) than touchdowns (17), and in 1982, he was benched down the stretch for ineffectiveness and replaced by Paul McDonald, who rallied Cleveland to a playoff berth. Sipe regained his starting job in the 1983 training camp and played pretty well overall through the first 13 games, getting the club to an 8-5 record with three contests to play. The Browns had won three in a row and four of five at that point and seemed almost a sure bet for the playoffs. Then came two unmitigated disasters, road losses to the Denver Broncos (27-6) and a really bad Houston Oilers team (34-27, but only after the Browns rallied from a 24-6 second-quarter deficit). The Browns entered their regular-season finale with a chance to make the playoffs if they won and some other teams lost. Appropriately so, it seemed, standing in the way were the arch rival Pittsburgh Steelers. And the game was at Cleveland Stadium, where the team had waged so many great battles over the years, especially in the Kardiac Kids era. It was the perfect stage for Sipe, who had been with the team for 10 seasons, to have a big day and, however the talks with Trump and the Generals turned out, leave a good taste in the mouths of Browns fans. In vintage Sipe – and Kardiac Kids – style, he delivered, throwing for four touchdowns with no interceptions in staking the Browns to a 30-10 third-quarter lead en route to a 30-17 victory. The Browns didn’t earn a playoff berth, but Sipe earned the adoration of the fans one last time.
Kardiac collapse
No. 29 – 1979 – finished 9-7 in the regular season and in third place in the AFC Central, three games behind the champion Steelers, and did not make the playoffs – This was much like the 1983 season. Only this time, Sipe and the Kardiac Kids were on their way up, not on their way down, and out. Rutigliano was hired as coach in 1978 and immediately got the Browns, their struggling offense and Sipe’s up-and-down career turned around with an 8-8 record. That momentum carried in 1979, when, with three straight typical, Kardiac Kids-like three-point wins and a 26-7 blowout of the defending NFC champion Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football, the Browns started 4-0. Three consecutive losses were followed by three victories in a row and, at 7-3, the Browns looked to be in great shape for the playoffs heading down the stretch. The club continued to play nail-biters – none of its last six games was decided by more than seven points – but the Browns went just 2-4 and lost their last two at Oakland and Cincinnati. It left them close to the playoffs, but not quite in yet. Although they had improved greatly for a second straight year, there was still more work to be done.
Missing the point(s)
No. 28 – 1959 – finished 7-5 and in a tie with the Philadelphia Eagles for second place in the NFL’s Eastern Conference, three games behind the champion New York Giants, and did not make the playoffs – What’s this thing about late-season sputtering? Years before the Kardiac Kids came into being, when Sipe and Rutigliano couldn’t have located Cleveland on a map even if their lives depended on it, the Browns were having trouble finishing. The first two-thirds of the 12-game 1959 season had gone pretty well. After losing two of their first three, the Browns got on a roll and won five straight. At 6-2, they were right there with the defending conference champion Giants with four games to play. Then came a pair of disappointing one-point losses – at home, no less, to average teams, the Steelers and San Francisco 49ers, by the identical scores of 21-20. Staggered and deflated, the Browns went to Yankee Stadium the next week and suffered what is still their most lopsided defeat ever to the Giants, 48-7. That was a stunner, since the Browns had fallen just 10-6 when the teams played at Cleveland two months earlier. It mattered little that the Browns won their finale at Philadelphia, 28-21. They knew they had blown a golden opportunity.
A third wheel
No. 27 – 1961—finished 8-5-1 and in third place in the NFL’s Eastern Conference, two games behind the champion Giants, and did not make the playoffs – The Giants and Eagles. The Eagles and Giants. They chased each other in the East all throughout the 1961 season. In the end, New York, on the strength of its defense, the stingiest in the NFL that year, went 10-3-1 and edged out Philadelphia (10-4) by just a half-game to win the conference title. The Browns were two games back, but it might as well have been 200. Although they split with the Eagles, they couldn’t beat the Giants, losing 37-21 and then tying them, 7-7, in the finale. The Browns were crushed by the eventual NFL champion Green Bay Packers 49-17 and suffered close losses to the Steelers (17-13) and Chicago Bears (17-14). The Browns were a good team, but they were not good enough. They were not really in the class of either the Giants or Eagles.
Fool’s gold
No. 26 – 1972 – finished 10-4 and in second place in the AFC Central, a game behind the champion Steelers; earned the conference’s lone wild-card spot and lost 20-14 to the Miami Dolphins in the divisional round – Though no one knew it then, the Browns’ great run was ending as the 1972 season was ending. In just about every year since they were formed in 1946, they had at least competed for a league championship, and had won it all eight times. They had captured their first AFC Central crown in 1971 with a 9-5 mark, and after a sluggish 2-3 start in 1972, they benched veteran – and beaten-up – quarterback Bill Nelsen in favor of Mike Phipps and got going again. Boy, did they get going again, winning six in a row and eight of their last nine to finish 10-4, their best record since 1969. It was vintage Browns that season. They overwhelmed some teams, defeating the Bengals 27-6, the Oilers 20-0, the O.J. Simpson-led Buffalo Bills 27-10 and the New York Jets 26-10, but more often than not, they won by close scores because they had the uncanny ability to make the big play at just the right time. That’s what having all those veterans, some of whom had been with the team for well over a decade, will do for you. They were winners. They knew had to win games. The biggest victory was a 26-24 decision over the Steelers in the cold rain and mud at Cleveland on a 26-yard Don Cockroft field goal with eight seconds left. Cockroft has called it the biggest kick of his career. The Browns were in the playoffs again, then gave the Dolphins, who were on their way to a perfect season and their first Super Bowl victory, all they could handle in a great game at the Orange Bowl. It seemed like the winning ways of the Browns would just go on and on and on. But they didn’t. The Browns faded down the stretch in 1973 to finish 7-5-2 and miss the playoffs, then went into their first extended down period, not making the playoffs again for eight long seasons, until 1980. The hopes and dreams that came out of 1972 were long gone by then.
A new era begins
No. 25 – 1963 – finished 10-4 and in second place in the NFL’s Eastern Conference, a game behind the champion Giants; did not make the playoffs but still played a postseason game, losing 40-23 to the Green Bay Packers in the Playoff Bowl, matching the second-place teams from the Eastern and Western conferences – The Browns without Paul Brown as their head coach? It didn’t seem possible. But the Browns went into 1963 without Brown on the sideline for the first time in their history. He had been unceremoniously fired about three weeks after the 1962 season and replaced by Blanton Collier, who had served as an assistant under Brown for nine seasons overall. Collier was more of a players’ coach than Brown, and the team responded well to the change. In starting 6-0, the Browns already had nearly as many wins as they had in all of the previous year when they finished 7-6-1. The club was scoring a lot of points, too, getting 35 or more in five of the six triumphs. One of the big keys for that was Collier’s insertion of Frank Ryan as the full-time quarterback after he shared time with Jim Ninowski in 1962 upon arriving in a trade with the Los Angeles Rams. Ryan began one of the most productive stretches ever by a Browns quarterback by throwing 25 touchdown passes. His favorite target was second-year wide receiver Gary Collins, who had 13 scoring catches to set a team record. Most impressive – and sobering – was the fact that all this success came after the Browns suffered through one of the most tragic offseasons in sports history, with three players – running back Ernie Davis, safety Don Fleming and rookie back Tom Bloom – passing away in a span of less than five months from January-June 1963. The Browns cooled off after their fast start, losing three of four, including two games by a total of just eight points, before righting themselves and winning three of four. They finished 10-4, getting their most wins since 1953, and put heat on the Giants all year. The Browns were just getting started. For the rest of the decade, they would be one of the NFL’s top teams.
A season for the birds
No. 24 – 1966 – finished 9-5 and tied with the Eagles for second place in the NFL’s Eastern Conference, 1½ games behind the champion Dallas Cowboys, and did not make the playoffs – Two new teams began flexing their muscles in 1966. One was the Eagles, whose rise to power would last only a year, and the other was the Cowboys, whose rise to power would last over two decades before finally coming to a temporary halt in 1988. Those teams jumped ahead of the two-time defending Eastern champion Browns in 1966. Even though running back Jim Brown retired just as training camp was beginning, the problem wasn’t really the offense. Leroy Kelly stepped in for Brown and the Browns scored 403 points, still the second- highest total in team history. It wasn’t really the defense, either, as the Browns surrendered just 259 points, considerably fewer than the 1965 (325) and ’64 (293) teams. Rather, it was that the Browns, unlike the previous two years, weren’t consistent and didn’t make big plays to win close games. They lost by one point to the Packers, 21-20, and by six to the St. Louis Cardinals, 34-28, in back-to-back games early in the season. They also were upset by the Steelers, 16-6, and lost showdown games on the road to the Cowboys, 26-14, and Eagles, 33-21. The loss at Dallas came in the first of the Cowboys’ annual Thanksgiving Day games and allowed head coach Tom Landry’s club to take control of the conference race down the stretch. The loss to the Eagles pretty much ended the Browns’ title chances and also paved the way for Philadelphia to get the Playoff Bowl bid.
Exception to the rule
No. 23 – 1960 – finished 8-3-1 and in second place in the NFL’s Eastern Conference, 1½ games behind the champion Eagles; did not make the playoffs but played in the first Playoff Bowl, losing 17-16 to the Detroit Lions – From 1950, when they entered the NFL after putting the All-America Football Conference out of business by winning all four of its championships, through 1965, either the Browns or the Giants captured all but one of the 16 American Conference, and later Eastern Conference, titles. Between Cleveland and New York, it was, in its own way, a dynasty like no other at the time in the NFL, or really pro sports overall. The one year that neither the Browns nor the Giants finished atop the conference was 1960, when the Eagles, who had gone just 7-5 the year before and tied with Cleveland for second place, put it all together. Not only did the Eagles win the East, but they also ended up defeating Vince Lombardi’s Packers to capture the NFL crown. The Browns nearly ruined the Eagles’ party, however. With quarterback Milt Plum having one of the best seasons in team history, leading the league with 2,297 passing yards and setting a club record with a 110.4 quarterback rating, the Browns ran up 40 or more points four times. They routed the Eagles 41-24 in the opener and the Giants 48-34 in the finale, and in between crushed the expansion Cowboys 48-7 and the Bears 42-0. But they lost three games by a combined total of just 10 points – 31-29 to the Eagles in the rematch, 14-10 to a Steelers team that finished just 5-6-1 and 17-13 to the Giants – and had to settle for a 17-17 tie with the Cardinals, who were in their first year in St. Louis after moving from Chicago. Cleveland scored the most points in the conference with 362, and allowed the fewest (217), and had nothing to show for it.
By Brown’s and the Browns’ standards, a downer
No. 22 – 1952 – finished 8-4 and in first place in the NFL’s Eastern Conference, a game ahead of the Giants and Eagles; lost 17-7 to the Lions in the NFL Championship Game – Yes, the Browns won the Eastern Conference. Yes, they got to the NFL Championship Game. But this was – by far – the worst performance in their seven-year history. They had never lost more than two games in a season. In fact, they lost as many games that year as they had in their entire stay in the AAFC. They lost to the Eagles for the first time, 28-20, after beating them by 42 points earlier in the season, and were swept by the Giants for the first time, 17-9 and 37-34, after having beaten them on three straight occasions dating back to the 1950 American Conference playoff game. Quarterback Otto Graham threw a career-high 24 interceptions and had just a 66.6 passing rating. Hmmm. A passing rating with three straight 6s in it. That tells you everything you need to know. The Browns had lost a league title game for the first time in 1951, but they were beaten at the end, 24-17, to the Los Angeles Rams, after having finished 11-1. What they did in 1952, losing by 10 to the Lions in the title game, was the “worst” of those great first 10 seasons the Browns had. It was certainly not what head coach Paul Brown, or the Browns, expected from themselves.
You’ve got to be Kid-ding!
No. 21 – 1980 – finished 11-5 and tied with the Houston Oilers for first place in the AFC Central, two games ahead of the Steelers, but was awarded the division title on tie-breakers; lost 14-12 to the Oakland Raiders in the divisional playoffs – The story of the Kardiac Kids in 1980 is well known. They not only recorded a lot of wins, but they did so in spellbinding fashion, with 14 of their 17 games overall – including the playoff – not being decided until the final two minutes. We can state that, but you really had to see it to believe it. Their games were like three-hour suspense thrillers. There’s no question it is the most exciting season in team history. All these years later, the fans in Cleveland are still talking about 1980 and the Kardiac Kids.
NEXT: Spots 11 through 20.
