The Browns other all-time great wins
By STEVE KING
Monday was a groggy day in many of these parts.
That’s what a lack of sleep will do for you.
But sleep is overrated at a time like this, which is why in Cleveland, Northeast Ohio and throughout Browns Nation, bleary-eyed fans got up and happily went to work, school or wherever, whatever with a big smile on their faces and a real bounce — a real pep — in their step.
The ability to take in something as extraordinarily special and historic, even iconic, as the Browns’ 49-37 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night at Heinz Field in the wild-card round of the AFC playoffs, and then to be able to savor it in the hours, days, weeks, months and even years, decades going forward, is what being a fan is all about.
Indeed, as I wrote immediately following the win, this ranks as one of the best, and most incredible, games in Browns history going back to their first season in 1946. It really does.
To give you a proper perspective, let’s detail the Browns other all-time great wins:
*Rolling past the Miami Seahawks 44-0 in 1946 in their first game ever, putting on a fast-paced, dazzling show before 60,135, the largest crowd to ever witness a pro football regular-season game to that time.It was a new team playing in a new league, the All-America Football Conference, so no one was sure, exactly, what to expect, but the Browns proved that they might just be a cut or two or three or four above their competition
*Beating three of their toughest foes — on the road and on opposite coasts — in an eight-day span — eight days! — during Thanksgiving week 1948, 34-21 over the New York Yankees, 31-14 over the Los Angeles Dons and 31-28 over the San Francisco 49ers on their way to finishing a perfect 15-0 and capturing their third consecutive AAFC title. They were the first team in pro football history to finish with a perfect mark — no ties, all wins — and earn a league championship.
*Their first game in the NFL in 1950, when the Browns, pitted against the two-time defending league champion Philadelphia Eagles on the road in hopes of these new guys from the AAFC getting their comeuppance, rolling to a 35-10 win that was much more one-sided than even the final score might indicate. It stunned everybody over the Cleveland locker room.
*The back-to-back postseason victories in 1950, as they beat first the New York Giants 8-3 in a special playoff game to win the American Conference, and then Cleveland’s former pro football team, the Los Angeles Rams, 30-28 on Lou Groza’s field goal with 28 seconds after they rallied from eight points down in the fourth quarter. Winning the title gave the Browns the distinction of being the champs of all of pro football, something that the hard-line NFL people never thought was possible when they absorbed Cleveland, the 49ers and the Baltimore Colts into the league from the defunct AAFC following the 1949 season.
*The back-to-back NFL Championship Game wins in 1954, 56-10 over a Detroit Lions team that had beaten them two straight years in the title contest, and in 1955, 38-14 over the Rams as the Browns completed the greatest run in pro football history, playing in the league championship game in each of their first 10 years of existence, and winning the title seven times.
*Beating the Baltimore Colts, an 11-point favorite, 27-0 in the 1964 NFL title game. It ranks as the best overall team effort in club history. The Colts appeared to be unbeatable, but the Browns dominated them.
*Defeating the heavily-favored Dallas Cowboys in back-to-back Eastern Conference Championship games, 31-20 in 1968 and 38-14 in ’69, to advance to the NFL title contest. The Cowboys had beaten the Browns four straight times heading into those games and had become the undisputed kings of the East, before Cleveland wrestled that distinction from their grasp.
*Turning back the New York Jets 31-21 in the 1970 opener in the NFL’s first Monday Night Football game before the largest crowd ever to see the Browns play in Cleveland, 85,703. It was a wildly exciting game played before a raucous throng and got the MNF series on its way to becoming an immediate hit.
*Coming from 10 points down with just over four minutes left to outlast the Jets 23-20 in double-overtime at Cleveland in the 1986 AFC divisional playoffs. The long game, with many twists and turns, left everyone spent when it was all over and was the Browns’ first postseason win in 17 years.
*Beating the Atlanta Falcons 24-16 at Cleveland in the 2002 regular-season finale to help earn the Browns a playoff berth, as a wild card, for the first — and only — time inthe expansion era heading into this season.
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