As soon as the New Orleans Saints clinched a spot in the Super Bowl on Sunday, it was just a matter of time before it was noted that the Cleveland Browns are now one of four NFL franchises that have never been to the big game, along with Jacksonville, Houston, and Detroit.
The Jaguars and Texans (would any state besides Texas have a franchise named after the citizens of that state?) have an excuse. Jacksonville has been in the NFL only since 1995, while Houston entered the league in 2002. Both teams are relatively new.
However, the Lions and Browns have both been in the NFL over 50 years, the Lions entering in 1930 while the Browns came into the league in 1950, although they were absent for a few years in the 90’s, thanks to Art Modell.
One of the things that bug me about the NFL is their lack of awareness of history, meaning they conveniently forget about anything that happened before the first Super Bowl following the 1966 season.
In fact, the NFL records now refer to all NFL Championship games before the Green Bay-Kansas City Super Bowl I matchup as NFC title games. This was noticed looking at the record for most touchdowns in an NFC championship and the names of Gary Collins (1964) and Otto Graham (1954) are tied for the record with three apiece.
The legendary “Greatest Game Ever Played”, the 1958 NFL Championship game between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants that went to overtime, is now relegated to NFC Championship game status, a game in which the winner plays for the Super Bowl title.
It means the glory days of the Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns, which occurred in the 1950’s are diminished, even though they were the NFL Champions!, the same as the team which wins a week from Sunday in Miami.
However, according to the people who report about the sports right now, the Browns and Lions have never won an NFL title.
Unfortunately, the Lions won the championship in 1935, 1952, 1953, and 1957. The Browns won in 1950, 1954, 1955, and 1964. Those are simply facts.
Why can’t the NFL list the champions before 1967? Most people think of the Vince Lombardi-led Packers as the winners of the first two Super Bowls, and that Green Bay has won three Super Bowls. But those Packers also won NFL titles in 1961, 1962, and 1965, which means that Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Ray Nitschke, Willie Davis and company were part of five championship squads. In fact, the Packers have won a dozen titles in total.
It’s also disrespecting to the greats who played during this era. While many speak of Joe Montana and his four championships, keep in mind that Bart Starr won five NFL titles, or that Otto Graham and Johnny Unitas were at the helm for three championship teams.
It is time the NFL recognized all teams who have won NFL Championships. They can definitely speak of the Super Bowl era, but they shouldn’t forget the formative years of the league in the 1940’s and 50’s.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 