Recalling the Cleveland Browns 5 wins against the Denver Broncos

The 1974 season was a forgettable one for the Browns as they posted their first losing record since 1956.

But on a late October afternoon at Municipal Stadium, the 60,478 fans in attendance were treated to a preview of what was to come.

The Browns were trailing 21-9 in the fourth quarter when head coach Nick Skorich replaced quarterback Mike Phipps with rookie Brian Sipe.

Cleveland started its comeback when Don Cockroft ran 27 yards off a fake punt. Sipe the converted a fourth-and-10 pass to tight end Steve Holden to keep the play alive before closing out the drive with an eight-yard touchdown run to cut the Denver lead to five.

The Browns defense held on the ensuing series and Gregg Pruitt returned the punt 72 yards before being brought down at the Broncos three-yard line. Sipe took over from there, scoring on a one-yard run to give the Browns their first lead of the game just after the two-minute warning.

Denver would drive down to the Cleveland 34, but the Browns came out victorious when Jim Turner missed a 51-yard field goal attempt.

“It was the team’s performance that did it today,” Sipe said, according to the 2008 book Classic Browns. “I just went about my business and they went about theirs.”

The comeback win was the first of many for Sipe as that day the Kardiac Kids were born.

Next: Purging the Ghost