Top Five 1940s Cleveland Browns games to watch while social distancing
Game 5: The final AAFC Season
The Browns highlight film is highly recommended, even though it is as much about air travel as it is about football. It is interesting because we get to meet the Browns’ wives as the team gets ready to travel to San Francisco.
It is also colorized, which makes it a little easier to watch. Air travel was still considered glamorous and high class out of reach for many ordinary Americans. Possibly the Capital Airlines sponsored the video. This was the season in which the Browns 29 game winning streak came to an end at the hands of the 49ers and so that game gets quite a bit of attention in this video.
The 29 straight victories streak is also disregarded by the stodgy NFL rule-makers. But it did happen.
The Browns were once again led by the cast of Otto Graham, Marian Motley, Dante Lavelli, Dub Jones, Edgar Jones, Mac Speedie, Lou Groza, and Frank Gatsby on offense, along with defensive stars Bill Willis, Lou Saban, Cliff Lewis, Tony Adamle and Jon Yanakor, among others.
Due to the football Brooklyn Dodgers franchise capsizing and merging with the Yankees, the AAFC was left with only seven teams. Accordingly, a seeded wildcard system was used with only one division. The Browns were first seeded and played Buffalo again. This time the Bills were improved and the Browns won by only ten points, 31-21.
The Championship game was played between the two best teams, the Browns and 49ers. Prior to the playoffs, however, it was announced that the league would merge with the NFL in 1950, with the Browns, 49ers and the current edition of the Baltimore Colts (which would be disbanded and resurrected one more time in the NFL) moving to the NFL. Nobody much cared about the AAFC Championship game, and very little video was saved, if it ever existed.
The Browns dominated their arch-nemesis, the 49ers, in winning their fourth straight AAFC Championship. Edgar Jones, Marion Motley, and Dub Jones scored touchdowns as they piled up 217 rushing yards to 122 for the 49ers. Passing was more even, 154 yards for Otto Graham and the Browns versus 122 yards for Frankie Albert and his 49ers.
Next. Top 3 games of Josh Cribbs career. dark
The next year both teams joined the NFL, and the NFL would never be the same.