What was the Browns’ first game at Cleveland Stadium as members of the NFL?
The answer can be found in the Browns’ opponents on Thursday night at Cleveland Browns Stadium in the preseason finale, the Chicago Bears.
After opening the 1950 preseason against the Green Bay Packers in Toledo, and then playing the Baltimore Colts at Cincinnati and Detroit Lions in Akron over the next two weeks, the club finally played its first contest in Cleveland as members of the NFL.
It came on Sept. 1, 1950 when the Browns edged the Bears 27-23 before 51,076 people at Cleveland Stadium.
The following week, the Browns went to Buffalo and defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 41-31 to complete the preseason at 5-0. They did pretty well after that as well, finishing the regular season at 10-2 and eventually making it to the NFL Championship Game, where they edged the Los Angeles Rams 30-28.
The Browns and Bears really became familiar with each other in the preseason in those early NFL years, playing each season through 1960. The Browns won the first five times and went 8-3 overall in those contests.
But then over the next 35 seasons before the original Browns left for Baltimore following the 1995 campaign, the teams played just six times in the preseason, and only twice in Cleveland. Included in that stretch was a meeting in 1971 at Notre Dame, and another in 1990 in the annual Pro Football Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio. The latter contest was a rarity in that it was called in the second half because of a severe thunderstorm that contained lots of lightning.
When the teams met at Cleveland in the preseason in a nationally-televised Monday Night Football affair on Aug. 14, 1995, the Browns, behind an outstanding performance by rookie quarterback Eric Zeier roared to a 55-13 win. It’s the second-most points the Browns have ever scored in the preseason, and the most in a game in Cleveland. The 42-point margin of victory is the second-largest in Browns preseason history, and again, the largest in a contest in Cleveland.
The Browns’ first win in Cleveland in the expansion era was at the expense of the Bears. It occurred on Aug., 28, 1999 when they earned a 35-24 decision at Cleveland Browns Stadium in the preseason home finale.
Despite this long, interesting and significant preseason history between the Browns and Bears, they have met just 14 times, with Cleveland holding a 9-5 record.
Even though they’ve not played much in the regular season, there have been several notable games against the Bears. The Browns defeated Chicago 24-0 on Oct. 22, 1967, recording their first shutout in 10 years, since 1957, when they won 24-0 -- over Pittsburgh -- and 31-0 against Chicago -- the Chicago Cardinals, that is.
One of the biggest wins over Chicago came when the Browns beat the Bears 27-21 on Monday Night Football during the 1980 Kardiac Kids season. It was the fourth of five straight wins by the Browns in the middle of the season and helped them negate an 0-2 start.
The Browns lost 41-31 at Chicago in the 1986 regular-season opener, which is noteworthy for two reasons. First of all, the game contained the first use of instant replay in NFL history. It came about when the Browns forced quarterback Jim McMahon to fumble on the Bears’ first possession and Al Gross fell on the ball in the end zone. The touchdown was confirmed following review.
In another Monday Night Football meeting on Oct. 23, 1989, the Browns posted a resounding 27-7 win over the Bears. The decisive play occurred when Bernie Kosar threw a 97-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Webster Slaughter. It stood as the longest pass play in Browns history for 15 years.
The crowd of 78,722 at Cleveland Stadium was so loud and raucous that they disrupted the Bears from successfully calling out their signals. That led Chicago head coach Mike Ditka to publicly chastise his team’s fans afterward, saying he wished they were as good as those in Cleveland.
But maybe the biggest -- and most memorable -- games the Browns and Bears have ever played was on Nov. 25, 1951 in Cleveland.
In the Browns’ 42-21 win, which was their eighth in a row, wingback Dub Jones scored six touchdowns, which ties him for an NFL record with two Pro Football Hall of Famers who played on Chicago teams, Gale Sayers of the Bears and Ernie Nevers of the Cardinals.
Jones had all of the Browns’ TDs that day, scoring on runs of 2, 12, 27 and 43 yards, and 34 and 43-yard passes from Otto Graham. He had 36 points overall and outscored the entire Bears team by 15 points.
He rushed nine times for 116 yards and caught 6 passes for 144 yards. That helped the Browns to 516 total yards, one of the highest totals in team history.
Not surprisingly, Jones, a Cleveland Browns Legend, made the Pro Bowl that season, the only time in his career.
In addition to all that, the rough-and-tumble Bears, nicknamed “The Monsters of the Midway,” came to town that day with the intent of bullying the Browns, who were considered by some to be a finesse team. The Bears followed through with their plan, and the Browns answered with a retaliation that was just as physical.
The Bears’ 165 yards that were assessed on 16 penalties are the most ever against Cleveland.
The Browns’ 21 penalties are still a team record, as are their 209 penalty yards. The combined total of 37 penalties for 374 yards by the clubs are both Browns team records.
The situation was so pronounced, in fact, that one of the sports writers covering the contest penned this little poem as part of his game story:
“Over and over you would hear the man say, ‘It’s being called back, there’s a flag on the play.’ ”
