Top Five 1950s Cleveland Browns games to watch while social distancing
NFL Championship: Browns vs. Detroit Lions, 1954
NFL Championship: Browns vs. Lions, 1954
The Browns and Lions repeated their trips to the title game in 1953, and that year the Browns were actually much improved compared to 1952, giving up only 162 points for the season, best by far in the NFL. Once again, however, the Browns found a way to blow the game against Detroit. Needing only a field goal to win in the fourth quarter, automatic Otto Graham was intercepted to seal the game for Detroit.
Graham had decided that 1954 would be his last season, in which he would try to avenge two consecutive defeats to the Lions, who had established themselves as the Browns’ most dangerous rival.
As for the Lions, they were taking their chances with Bobby Lane, the anti-Graham. Lane was a free-spirited gunslinger from Texas, with the reputation of being a partier, and the unquestioned leader of the team. Michael Barr, in his book entitled, “Cloyce Box 6’4″ and Bulletproof” (Texas A&M Press, 2017), described Layne as “a free spirit who lived hard and fast. He didn’t have six-pack abs. He had a beer gut. Teammate Yale Lary recalled, ‘When Bobby said block, you blocked, and when Bobby said drink, you drank.'”
Layne was close to the polar opposite of Graham, and yet they would play each other a final time in the 1954 NFL Championship game, as both teams three-peated to make to the championship game.
Browns fans were pessimistic because the Indians had just gotten blown out of the World Series after setting all kinds of records in a 111-43 season, and the Browns had had no success against the young swashbuckling bullies from Detroit. In fact Graham had not even thrown a touchdown pass against the Lions in their previous two encounters.
Sure enough, the Lions got on the board first with a Doak Walker field goal. But Billy Reynolds reeled off a 46-yard punt return to give the Browns great field position. Graham found halfback Ray Renfro for a 35-yard scoring strike–Graham’s first ever touchdown pass against the Lions in a playoff game–and the Browns were ahead 7-3.
Detroit fans had no need to get worried, and indeed Later Jack Christianson picked off a Graham pass intended for Dante Lavelli. But Layne reciprocated the next play, with Don Paul coming up with the interception. This time Graham converted the turnover into points with an 8-yard strike to tight end Pete Brewster.
That set the Browns on a scoring binge, interrupted only by a touchdown run by Bill Bowman of the Lions, which allowed them to close to within 11 points.
Thereafter it was all Cleveland, and they did not stop scoring until they had accumulated 56 points to 10 for Detroit. Graham had finally gotten that monkey off his back and could ride off into retirement….except….Paul Brown would talk him into coming back for one more year.