Jim Brown (32) takes a handoff from Frank Ryan (13)
December 27, 1964, 60 years ago: The NFL Championship Game is played, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The host Cleveland Browns had been a dominant team from their 1946 inception until 1957, and were back after a rebuild.
Controversially, that rebuild involved Art Modell buying the team, and firing the founding head coach and general manager, Paul Brown. Blanton Collier was put in charge, and he revamped the team, including installing Frank Ryan at quarterback. Ryan was working on a doctorate in mathematics, and would later teach at the university level.
Collier also gave Jim Brown a bit more leeway. In 1963, Collier's 1st season, Brown rushed for 1,863 yards, an NFL record that stood for another 10 years. In 1964, he ran for 1,446. The Browns had another Hall-of-Fame running back in Leroy Kelly. Paul Warfield, a rookie receiver, would also go to Canton. So would guard Gene Hickerson. And so would their one holdover from their 1950s titlists, placekicker Lou Groza.
The Browns went 10-3-1. The St. Louis Cardinals tied them 33-33 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, and beat them 28-19 in St. Louis. The Browns also lost 23-7 at home to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and 28-21 to the Green Bay Packers in Milwaukee. The losses in Milwaukee and St. Louis were both late in the season. But a 52-20 demolition of the Giants at Yankee Stadium in the final regular-season game gave them the Eastern Division title by half a game over the Cardinals, who went 9-3-2.
They would host the NFL Championship Game against the Baltimore Colts, who were favored, having gone 12-2. With Johnny Unitas quarterbacking several holdovers from their 1958 and '59 NFL Champions, they lost their opener away tot he Minnesota Vikings, and their next-to-last game at home to the Detroit Lions. But they won the rest of their games. They did not play the Browns in the regular season. Despite the Browns having the home field, the Colts were favored by 7 points.
There was no scoring in the 1st half. The Browns began the 3rd quarter with the wind at their backs, and Groza's kickoff went beyond the end zone. The Browns' defense held the Colts, and Tom Gilburg had to punt into the wind. The Browns took over in Colt territory, but could only get a 43-yard field goal from Groza.
That seemed to break the ice, though: The Colts could do nothing on their ensuing drive, and an 18-yard run by Brown was followed by an 18-yard touchdown pass from Ryan to Gary Collins, and the Browns were up, 10-0.
The Colts could not recover. Tony Lorick ran Groza's kickoff out of the end zone, and was tackled at his own 11. A clipping penalty forced another punt into the wind, and the Browns got the ball back at the Colt 39. Another pass from Ryan to Collins made it 17-0. Unitas got the Colts into Browns territory on the next drive, but the usually reliable Lenny Moore fumbled a handoff, and the Browns recovered. The 3rd quarter closed with a 23-yard run by Jim Brown.
Never before had a single quarter so turned around an NFL championship game, and none would again for 23 years, until the 2nd quarter of Super Bowl XXII, when Denver led 10-0 at the start, and Washington led 35-10 at the end.
The Colts held the Browns to another Groza field goal, and it was 20-0. Unitas looked to have gotten the Colts to the Brown 15, by a wide-open Jimmy Orr dropped the pass, and the Colts had to punt. This time, they had the wind, but it made no difference, and a 3rd Ryan-to-Collins touchdown made the final score 27-0. Collins -- no relation to the actor and game-show host of the same name -- thus became the 1st player ever to catch 3 touchdown passes in an NFL title game.
In spite of the performances of Ryan, Brown and Collins, the Browns' defense was as much of a story. They held Unitas to 95 passing yards, and the team as a whole to 92 rushing yards.
This game had 5 officials: A referee, an umpire, a head linesman, a back judge and a field judge. And their penalty flags were white. The next season, a line judge was added, and penalty flags were changed to yellow, to show up better on color television. In 1978, the side judge brought the on-field officials' complement to their current 7.
This would prove to be Jim Brown's only title. The next season, the Browns got back into the NFL Championship Game, but lost to the Green Bay Packers. Jim then retired to focus on acting and civil rights activism. The Browns would reach the NFL Championship Game again in 1968, but lost to the Colts; and again in 1969, but lost to the Vikings. They reached the AFC Championship Game in the seasons of 1986, 1987 and 1989, but lost all 3. They have never won another NFL title, not since this game, which could be retroactively labeled "Super Bowl -II."
The Colts lost Super Bowl III to close the 1968-69 season, but won Super Bowl V. In 1984, they moved to Indianapolis. In 1995, angry that he couldn't get a new stadium, or at least a better lease at Municipal Stadium, Art Modell moved the Browns -- to Baltimore, where they became the Ravens. You would think that, having had their hearts broken 11 years earlier, Baltimore would have known better. They won Super Bowls XXXV and XLVII.
A new Browns franchise was established for 1999, but they have largely struggled: In their 1st 26 seasons, they've only made the Playoffs 3 times, winning just 1 game, although it was against their arch-rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, in 2020.
Along with the Detroit Lions, the Browns are 1 of 2 teams to have won an NFL Championship, but, through the 2023 season, never reached the Super Bowl. The Browns, the Lions, and the team now known as the Arizona Cardinals are the only 3 teams to have won an NFL Championship, but not won a Super Bowl. (The Cardinals have reached one, but lost it. I should say 4 teams, as the Minnesota Viking won the 1969 NFL Championship, but lost Super Bowl IV.)
The fact that the Browns' titles came before the advent of the Super Bowl means that they get discounted: Even before the distance of time became what it is now, NFL fans had come to regard any title won before the Super Bowl, NFL or AFL, as not a "real" championship.
What's more, the 1964 Browns are often considered, along with the 1963 Chicago Bears, to be an NFL Champion that would have lost to that season's AFL Champions. The day before this game, the AFL Championship Game was played at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, New York. The Buffalo Bills beat the San Diego Chargers, 20-7.
The Browns' 1964 NFL Championship would be the last title won by any Northern Ohio team for a long time, and many gut-wrenching close calls would come in the interim. The Browns would have "The Drive" in the 1986 AFC Championship Game, and "The Fumble" in the 1987 edition, before "The Move" and "The Return."
The Cleveland Indians, now known as the Cleveland Guardians, wouldn't even get close to the Playoffs until winning the American League Pennant in 1995, lost that year's World Series, and then lost the 1997 World Series despite leading in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 7. And they blew a 3-games-to-1 lead in the 2007 AL Championship Series. The Cleveland Cavaliers were a hard-luck team, losing a 1989 NBA Playoff series to the Chicago Bulls on the last play, when Michael Jordan made "The Shot."
Finally, in 2016, the Cavaliers won the NBA Championship, ending Cleveland's overall title drought after 51 1/2 years. LeBron James and Jim Brown posed together with the NBA trophy.
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