Aftet the 1951 Browns failed to win a league championship for the first time in their six-year history, falling 24-17 to the Los Angeles Rams on a late touchdown in the NFL title game, Cleveland head coach Paul Brown nearly lost his mind, vowing to reassess every facet of the organization to see what went so terribly wrong.

It got worse a year later when the Browns fell 17-7 to the Detroit Lions in the 1952 title game.

It — that disgust that comes with losing — only increased in the season after that, 1953, when the Browns cane up short again to Detroit, this time by a score of 17–16, in the championship game.

That was always the standard for Brown during his 17 seasons in Cleveland, to win a league championship, hopefully by a lopsided score. Anything else, including losing the league title game by just a point in the waning monents, was an abject failure in his mind.

There were no feel-good stories of having a great regular season before losing.

It was win it all, or nothing.

The standard was the standard, darn it, and it remained there. There was no lowering of the bar, even if for just a moment, for the standard would then cease to be the standard.

My, how times have changed, and also that standard.

To be continued.

Steve King