by One year into the phenom known as “Monday Night Football”, the Browns were a quick 2-0 in primetime. They had a tremendous 1971 season that saw them go 9-5 but lose their only primetime game to the Oakland Raiders. The silver and black would go on to haunt the Browns several more times in the coming decades.
The Browns took their primetime luck to the road in 1973 with a thrilling 21-17 win at the San Diego Chargers. This wasn’t the legendary Super Chargers team that featured Dan Fouts and Kellen Winslow Sr and that showed as only 5 Chargers touched the ball the entire game. Quarterback John Hadl only completed 12 passes all game, and the Browns defense only allowed 5 of passes to go wide receivers.
Browns quarterback Mike Phipps wasn’t exactly a world beater that evening either, as he only went 12 of 21 for the game with a touchdown toss to Frank Pitts from 38 yards with only moments to play. The Browns overcame two deficits in that game to come from behind and win on the road. They would finish the season 10-4 but lose to Miami in the playoffs.
Speaking of Miami, the Browns would lose to them in their only MNF appearance in 1973, a 17-9 road loss. That defeat came as part of a 7-5-2 season that would fall short of the playoffs. This sparked a series of losing that wouldn’t see the Browns return to Monday Night Football until the 1977 season.
This clash came week two of the season as the Browns hosted the New England Patriots. They spotted the Pats a 17-7 halftime lead. A Brian Sipe touchdown pass to Gary Parris combined with a field goal from Don Cockroft tied it at 17 as the teams headed to the fourth quarter.
This is where things began to get crazy as first Brian Sipe and Steve Grogan exchanged touchdown passes. Then, Cockroft and John Smith would exchange field goals to send the game into overtime at 27 apiece. From there, another Cockroft field goal would win it for the Browns in walk off fashion. The win would spark a 5-2 start, but eventually they would collapse, losing 6 of their final 7 games, to finish 6-8 and miss the playoffs.
The 1979 season would begin on a high note for Cleveland as they started the season 3-0, as they welcomed in America’s team in for Monday Night Football in a showcase of two of the NFL’s most popular teams. The Browns were ready for the spotlight of National Prime Time television as they went out and crushed the Dallas Cowboys 26 – 7 in a route.
It was a wild start that saw the Browns leap out to a 20- 0 lead. The Browns points barrage was courtesy of Sipe touchdown passes to Dave Logan and Ozzie Newsome. This was combined with a 39-yard interception touchdown return by Thom Darden off a Roger Staubach pass. Staubach would attempt to get them back in it with a 48-yard touchdown strike to Tony Hill by the time a explosive 20-7 first quarter was over.
Oddly enough, despite all the action in the opening quarter, the rest of the game would only see 6 mote points in the closing seconds of the game as Greg Pruitt took it in from 2 yards out to cap the victory. The win would move the Browns to 4-0, however, they would finish the season 5-5 and miss the playoffs once again.
As discussed in Chapter Three the Browns would win their only primetime game in the magical 1980 season against the Houston Oilers 16-7. All the fun of 1980 was evaporated week one of 1981 when they were blown out 44-14 at San Diego by the Chargers on Monday night to start the season.
The Browns wouldn’t return to primetime until 1983 on a Thursday Night as they hosted their in state rival the Cincinnati Bengals. The NFL had seen the money-making ability and the popularity of Monday Night Football and decided to expand the schedule to Thursdays as well. Cleveland was one of the first franchises to be spotlighted on this platform and did well wit it as they toppled the Bengals 17-7. The orange and brown had touchdown from Ozzie Newsom and Mike Pruitt in the victory.
After a blowout 33-0 Monday Night Football loss to Seattle to open the 1984 season, the Browns bounced back with a 17-7 Week 2 win over Pittsburgh in 1985. This was one of the final wins with Gary Danielson as the starting quarterback as the Bernie Kosar era would start a few short weeks after. On this night however, it was the vaunted run game for Cleveland of Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner combined for 120 yards on 30 carries. This was the 1985 season that saw both Mack and Byner run for 1,000 yards each.
When Miami rolled into Cleveland Municipal Stadium on Monday Night November 10, 1986, Browns fans only had one thing on their minds, and that was revenge. The Dolphins had overcome a 21-3 deficit to the Browns the year prior in the playoffs to end Bernie Kosars dream rookie season run. No one in Cleveland had forgotten about the second half heartbreak, and had this date with Miami circled on their schedule from the day it came out.
A packed house stood in anticipation of this showdown between Kosar and Dan Marino on primetime. Up 6-3 early into the second quarter, the Browns were the first to strike paydirt when little known Harry Holy took one in from 16 yards out to extend the lead to 16-6. The Dolphins would answer back with a Marino to Mark Duper 24-yard touchdown strike. Another field goal by Matt Bahr, his third of the first half, would extend the Browns lead to 16 – 10 at halftime.
The Browns would go on to score two more times before the end of the night for an impressive 26-16 win. The incredible thing about this night on the shore, was the fact that Bernie Kosar threw for 401 yards but not a single touchdown pass. Kevin Mack was held to just 27 yards on the ground, but went for 94 in the air, a career high!
The Browns would use the momentum of that night to reach the AFC Championship game against Denver. The Browns were proving to be a force under the lights and showed it yet again as they defeated the Rams 30-17 at home midway through the 1987 season. Another year that ended in the AFC Championship game against Denver.
Headed into 1988, the Browns were starting to become the premier team of Monday and Thursday night football, this was never more evident than in 1988 when even without their banged up starting quarterback Bernie Kosar, they defeated the Indianapolis Colts 23-17 with backup Mike Pagel. The backup shined in primetime, throwing for 255 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The 1989 season under Bud Carson was the last time the Browns reached the AFC Championship game, and it once again came with a Monday Nigh Football win. This time around it was NFC foe the Chicago Bears at home in Cleveland. The Browns had stumbled out of the gate to a 3-3 record in 1989 needed this win to get on the happy side of par.
They won easily with a 27-7 lopsided victory. The win would spark a four-game winning streak, and the Browns would eventually finish the season with a 9-5-1 mark, and once again reach the AFC Championship game versus Denver. In the win, Eric Metcalf rushed for a touchdown and received one as well. The big play came on a wild 97-yard touchdown toss to a wide-open Webster Slaughter from Bernie Kosar as the Browns led 24-0 at one point.
I mentioned another loss to Denver, but the following season in 1990, Monday Night Football would bring the opportunity to revenge that 3rd loss in 4 years to the dreaded orange crush. The Broncos had made a habit of beating the Browns in the most heart wrenching but this time around it was Cleveland sending Denver to bed with heartbreak.
Elway had thrown for 175 yards and also ran for a touchdown to help Denver build a 29-20 fourth quarter lead. This was combined with a 106 rushing yard night from Bobby Humphrey as it appeared that Denver would once again top Cleveland. This was when the Browns would begin to create their own fourth quarter magic.
It began with Bernie Kosars third touchdown of the night as he threw for a total of 318 yards in the game. This was a 24-yard touchdown toss to Brian Brennan to keep hope alive as they suddenly only trailed 29-27 with minutes left in the game.
The Browns would hold John Elway and force a rare Broncos punt that evening. Cleveland Browns placekicker Jerry Kauric who only played one year in the NFL had the chance to be a hero as Kosar moved the Browns into Field Goal position with only seconds left. It was then that Kauric trotted out there calmly nailed a 30 yard kick as time expired to give the Browns the dramatic win. For Cleveland, it was their lone bright spot in what was a terrible 3-13 season that would lead to Bud Carsons dismissal as head coach during the bye week where the Browns sat 2-7 at the time.
The 1990 season saw a lot of pain for Cleveland fans, and a lot of setback as well. They wouldn’t achieve their next Primetime victory until nearly three years later when Bernie Kosar outdueled Steve Young, once again at home, to lead the Browns to a 23-13 victory.
The night truly proved to be historic as it would go down as the last time the Cleveland Browns won a game that Bernie Kosar started and played all four quarters in. The legendary and beloved quarterback of the Browns would be cut from the team by week 9 as head coach Bill Belichick sited Kosar to have “diminished skills”. Belichick took a lot of heat for that move, but he was right to do it as it was clear that Kosars days of being relevant, had painfully come to and end.
This Monday night in Cleveland however, belonged to Kosar and the Browns. Kosar outdueled Steve Young and the 49ers to the tune of 186 yards and a touchdown while the Browns secondary picked off Steve Young 3 times. It was Kosars last great hurrah in Cleveland, and would signal the end of many great times for Bernie, since his arrival in 1985.
The Browns had to savor that win in 1993 because they would finish the season if turmoil 7-9 while missing the playoffs for a fourth straight year. As you read earlier the Browns would rebound well in 1994, going 11-5 and returning to the playoffs including a primetime win in week 7 against Houston to move to 5-1 on the season at that point.
Little did anyone realize that win in October of 1994 against Houston, would go down as the Browns final win on Prime Time National Television for the next 9 years as they would capture victory again on Prime Time until October of 2003. Now, to preface just a bit, they left the league after 1995 and didn’t return until 1999. In the first four years they were back, they only had two Prime Time games, both losses on Sunday Night Football to Pittsburgh and Baltimore, and zero chances to play on Monday Night.
As they entered this Sunday Night tilt against Pittsburgh on the road, they were reeling with a 1-3 start and the starting quarterback Kelly Holcomb was out to injury. This brought back the once golden boy Tim Couch off the pine for a short a redemption. He got exactly that with a sensational Sunday Night performance over the Steelers who had knocked them out of the playoffs the previous winter.
Couch had the game of his life as he threw for two touchdowns and ran for one more in a dominant 33-13 Cleveland victory. He was helped out by a tremendous effort from the Browns defense who made the night for Steeler quarterback Tommy Maddox a living Hell. The Browns defense picked off Maddox twice and sacked him three times. One of the interceptions resulted in a 75 yard return for a touchdown from Daylon McCutcheon. Cleveland even doubled up Pittsburgh 22-11 in first downs that evening as well.
What was truly remarkable was the 17 year long winless streak at Heinz Field that would develop after that. The Browns won that night at Heinz, and then not again until the 2020 Playoff game at Heinz Field, which ironically enough, just happened to be on a Sunday night.
While the big win in Pittsburgh signaled the end of a 9 year draught it also began another one as the Browns wouldn’t win again on primetime until 5 years later when they defeated the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants in Cleveland, on Monday Night October 13, 2008 by a score of 35-14.
The win was huge for Cleveland as following a 10-6 season, all eyes were on the playoffs. They had underwhelmed by starting 0-3 to being the season, and it looked like all that promise was going out the window. They managed a desperation win at hapless Cincinnati in Week Four to stop the losing streak, but few gave them a shot with the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants rolling into town.
Making matters worse were a couple of key factors working against Cleveland that night. The boo birds were already out during their first home game losses to Dallas and Pittsburgh to start the season. These same fans were calling for Romeo Crennel to replace Pro Bowl Quarterback Derek Anderson with second year fan favorite Brady Quinn out of Notre Dame. The pressure was on to prove that the 10-6 2007 season wasn’t a fluke.
If the Browns were going to get things turned around, the odds were stacked against them as they would be playing without Kellen Winslow who was dealing with injury. At the time, Winslow was seen as one of the best tight ends in football and the Browns were hurting without them.
The Giants came in the defending Super Bowl Champions and even at only 4-0, the national media was already discussing the chances of them going 16-0. They were seen as almost unbeatable as their combined score through four weeks was 127 – 46. Coming into the Monday night showdown with Cleveland, Giants quarterback Eli Manning was throwing touchdown passes to Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer left and right. Helping matters was the exciting combination in the backfield of power and speed that was Brandon Jacobs and Amad Bradshaw.
The defense was led by Justin Tuck and Antonio Pierce who made opposing quarterbacks shake in their cleats. The secondary of James Butler, Michael Johnson, Corey Webster and Aaron Ross had opposing quarterbacks thinking twice every time they dropped back and scanned their routes. But just like they had done during so many previous Monday Night Games, the Cleveland Browns took the massive challenge head on, know that 80.000 plus screaming fans would behind them.
The Browns knew that a 1-4 start to their season would spell death, but they were up for the challenge and appeared to be feeling no pressure, even after falling behind 7-3 early into the second quarter. Derek Anderson led back-to-back scoring drives, the first resulting in a Jamal Lewis 4-yard touchdown run and the second on a 22-yard touchdown pass to Darnell Dinkins. The Giants cut into the lead with a great two-minute drill that resulted in a Plaxico Burress touchdown catch.
Even with the Browns up 17-14 at the break, the national commentators still had a negative bias towards Cleveland and gave them little to no chance to hold onto the lead and win the game. The Browns were only able to add a field goal in the third quarter, but they did hold the Giants scoreless and held a slim 20-14 lead heading into the final 15 minutes.
With all the pressure on their shoulders, the Browns didn’t crumble, rather, they thrived to the tune of 15 unanswered points to put the Giants away 35-14. The scoring was courtesy of an 11-yard touchdown pass from Derek Anderson to Braylon Edwards. Then the cherry on the sundae came when Eric Wright intercepted an Eli Manning pass and took it 94 yards to the house for Cleveland!
It was a magical night in Cleveland, that gave Browns fans hope. Derek Anderson lit up the Giants defense for 310 yards and 2 touchdown passes. His main target was Braylon Edwards who had 5 catches for 154 yards with the score and also a two-point conversion. Jamal Lewis rushed for 88 yards and a touchdown as well. The Browns defense stepped it up by picking off Eli Manning 3 times throughout the night.
Sadly, for Browns fans, the rest of the season was an epic disaster that never seemed to want to get better. They only won 2 more times, and ironically one of them was once again on Monday Night in Buffalo as a Phil Dawson 56-yard Field Goal into the win, in the closing moments brought the Browns a 29-27 victory. It was part of a 5 Field Goal night for Dawson.
The 2009 season for the Cleveland Browns couldn’t have started off any worse, as their record stood at a horrendous 1-11 as they headed into a Thursday Night Showcase game against the hated Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers came in at 6-6, and the Browns new a win could knock Pittsburgh out of playoff contention. That and the simple fact that is was a rivalry game being played in 15 degree weather with a windchill of 25 MPH that made it seem like -6 degrees out.
Ben Roethlisberger was a career 9-0 against Cleveland coming into this game and had little reason to fear the Browns. He was wrong not to take them serious as an angry Browns defense introduced him to the frozen turf all night long. The Browns sacked “Big Ben” a thunderous 8 times throughout the course of the game. The 8 sacks resulted in 60 yards being lost and moving Pittsburgh out of field goal position time and time again.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Browns quarterback Brady Quinn wasn’t exactly a world beater either as he only went 6 of 19 for 90 yards. The crazy part of this Thursday Night contest was the fact that Pittsburgh didn’t score a single touchdown in the 13-6 Cleveland win, and the only person to score a touchdown was the never heard from before or again, Browns tailback Chris Jennings who rushed for 73 yards. Another incredible stat was the one of Josh Cribbs, who made his bones as a kick and punt returner, rushing for a game high 87 yards on jet sweeps and wildcat formations.
It wasn’t pretty but it worked and yet again, the Browns were a primetime winner. A lot of fans believed it saved head coach Eric Mangini’s job, as the Browns used that momentum from the stunning victory over the defending Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers, to win their final three games after that and completed the season at 5 – 11. It was also the second straight season the Browns defeated the defending Super Bowl Champions, they would go on to make it the threepeat the next season with a victory of then defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans.
It’s almost a good thing that 2009 win was so “frozen”, because the Browns had to keep it until they could replace it with another primetime win and that wouldn’t happen for several years. In fact, the Browns next big Primetime National televised win wouldn’t come until Week 5 of the 2013 Season, a little less than 4 full years later.
This win came over Buffalo and was steeped with drama coming into the night, and even more coming out of it. Once again, the Browns had stumbled out of the gate with an 0-2 record after piss poor losses to Miami at home and Baltimore on the road. A strange thing happened in the Baltimore game however. After Browns second year quarterback Brandon Weeden under performed in the loss, he was injured and knocked out of the game late. Then his replacement, Jason Campbell got dinged up while in relief, despite no one knowing until after.
Following the Browns 14-6 loss to Baltimore to start 0-2, two major changes happened. With both Weeden and Campbell hurt, they had to turn to third string quarterback and local product Brian Hoyer. The St. Ignatius graduate and Michigan State alumni had spent 3 of his 4 seasons in the NFL learning underneath Tom Brady in New England. Hoyer was beloved in Cleveland from his time playing for Chuck Kyle at Saint Ignatius. Hoyer was a local product from a humble background and easy for Cleveland fans to get behind.
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