Originally published on Sept. 4, 2021
By Zane Miller
When looking at stories involving sports teams, we tend
to look at either the really great teams or the really terrible teams. While this
makes sense, sometimes it’s nice to show some attention to those clubs that put
themselves solidly in the middle of the pack.
As of the 2021 National Football League season, there
have been a total of 187 seasons by currently active teams who have finished
with a .500 winning percentage at the end of the regular season. Of these
teams, five have finished in the same spot in both points for and points
against for that season. This includes the 1965 New York Giants (10th), 1980
Denver Broncos (16th), 1998 Seattle Seahawks (10th), and the 2003 New Orleans
Saints (14th). While all of these are strong candidates to become the NFL’s
most mediocre team, none are as middle of the road as the 1970 Cleveland
Browns.
The Browns came into the 1970 season looking to build
on their impressive 10-3-1 record in 1969, enabling the team to reach the playoffs
for the fourth consecutive season before losing to the Minnesota Vikings in the
NFL Championship Game, allowing the Vikings to reach the Super Bowl for the
first time in franchise history. However, making the postseason this year in
particular would be more of a challenge, as the NFL expanded from just 16 teams
in 1969 to 26 teams in 1970, due to the American Football League merging with
the NFL after 10 years of competition. While the postseason field was also
expanded from four teams to eight teams, this still meant that there would be
more teams missing the playoffs than in years prior.
The Browns started off their season on Monday, September
21st, 1970 against the New York Jets, who were playing their first regular
season game as members of the NFL and the first Monday Night Football game in
league history. Cleveland took momentum for their season early, as quarterback
Bill Nelsen led Browns to a 31-21 victory to start the year at 1-0. However, the
team would soon take their first loss of the new season, as the San Francisco
49ers defeated them 34-31 in the ensuing game on September 27th.
Through the first six weeks of the season, Cleveland
was still sitting in a good position to continue their playoff success,
claiming a 4-2 record. However, a crushing three-game losing skid would cost
the Browns dearly, as they were beaten by the San Diego Chargers 27-10, the
Oakland Raiders 23-20, and the Cincinnati Bengals 14-10 to knock the Browns down
to a losing record for the first time in the season with just five games to go.
While the team would somewhat recover as they went 3-2
in their remaining games, capping off 1970 with a 27-13 win over the Broncos on
December 20th to put themselves at a 7-7 record, it wouldn’t be enough to reach
the playoffs. Cleveland missed the postseason for the first time since the 1966
season, as head coach Blanton Collier retired at season’s end, citing hearing
difficulties as the main factor in his decision.
When looking at the overall statistics at the end of
the year, it’s easy to see what led the team to finish at a .500 record. The
1970 Browns scored a total of 286 points, good for 13th out of the 26 teams in
the league. On the defensive side, the Browns allowed 265 points in total,
which also put them at 13th out of 26 teams in that category.
Nelsen was the primary starting quarterback for the
balance of the season, as he claimed a 6-6 record with 16 touchdown passes,
2,156 passing yards and a 50.8% completion percentage. Nelsen missed two games
during the season, as he was unavailable with a knee injury in the team’s week
three game against the Pittsburgh Steelers and was replaced by backup Don
Gault, as the Browns won 15-7 in what would be the only win of Gault’s NFL
career. In week nine against the Bengals, Nelsen was benched after two straight
losses. Rookie quarterback Mike Phipps, whom the Browns had drafted at third
overall in the offseason, took over to no avail as Cleveland lost to fall
behind at 4-5.
Fullback Bo Scott was the team’s leading rusher,
earning six touchdown runs along with 625 yards, while Gary Collins led the
Browns’ wide receivers with four touchdown catches, claiming 351 yards in the
process. As for the defense, the best player for Cleveland was likely defensive
lineman Jack Gregory, who scored 15 and a half sacks during the season,
second-most in the NFL only behind the Raiders’ Tony Cline, who earned 17 and a
half sacks. Defensive back Erich Barnes also had a solid season, getting five interceptions,
one of which was returned for a touchdown.
For the 1971 season, Collier was replaced by offensive
coordinator Nick Skorich, who remained as Cleveland’s head coach through 1974. The
Browns picked up where they had left off after 1969, going 9-5 and making it to
the 1971 playoffs, although they lost in the first round to the Baltimore Colts
20-3. Nelsen stayed on as the team’s starter in 1971, before knee injury issues
forced him to give way to Phipps in the 1972 season. In 1972, Cleveland finished
with a 10-4 record, the last time the team would take a double-digit win total
until 1980. While they made the postseason, in the first round they faced the
undefeated Miami Dolphins, who won 20-14 and went on to win the Super Bowl, as
of this writing making them the only NFL team to go undefeated in both the
regular season and postseason.
While the Browns span from 1967 to 1972 was mostly
successful, their 1970 season remains as an anomaly, marked as the most average
season in the history of the NFL.
No comments:
Post a Comment