1969 Cleveland Browns season

1969 Cleveland Browns season
General managerHarold Sauerbrei
Head coachBlanton Collier
Home fieldCleveland Stadium
Local radioWHK
Results
Record10–3–1
Division place1st NFL Century
Playoff finishWon Eastern Conference Championship Game
(at Cowboys) 38–14
Lost NFL Championship
(at Vikings) 7–27
Pro BowlersBill Nelsen, QB
Walter Johnson, DT
Fred Hoaglin, C
Jim Houston, LB
Jack Gregory, DB
Leroy Kelly, RB
Paul Warfield, WR
Gene Hickerson, G

The 1969 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 20th season with the National Football League and their 24th overall in professional football and the last before the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger.

The Browns made it to the 1969 NFL Championship Game, where they fell to the Minnesota Vikings. The 1969 season would be the last year that Cleveland would win a postseason game until 1986. In addition, that victory over Dallas would also be the last time the Browns won a postseason game on the road until the 2020–21 playoffs. This was also the last season in which the Browns made it to the league championship game, as they have failed to reach the Super Bowl after the merger.

Offseason

NFL Draft

The following were selected in the 1969 NFL/AFL draft.

1969 Cleveland Browns Draft
Round Selection Player Position College Notes
1 20 Ron Johnson Running back Michigan
3 55 Al Jenkins Guard Tulsa
3 72 Chip Glass Tight end Florida State
4 98 Freddie Summers Defensive back Wake Forest
5 124 Fair Hooker Wide receiver Arizona State
6 145 Larry Adams Defensive tackle Texas Christian University
6 150 Joe Righetti Defensive tackle Waynesburg
7 176 Walt Sumner Defensive back Florida State
8 202 Chuck Reynolds Center Tulsa
9 228 Ron Kamzelski Defensive tackle Minnesota
10 254 Greg Shelly Guard Virginia
11 280 Dave Jones Wide receiver Kansas State
12 306 Dick Davis Running back Nebraska
13 332 Tommy Boutwell Wide receiver Southern Miss
14 358 Jiggy Smaha Defensive tackle Georgia
15 384 Joel Stevenson Tight end Georgia Tech
16 410 James Lowe Flanker Tuskegee
17 436 Bob Oliver Defensive end Abilene Christian

[1]

Personnel

Staff/Coaches

1969 Cleveland Browns staff
Front office

Coaching Staff

Offensive coaches

  Defensive coaches

Special teams

Strength & Conditioning

  • Athletic trainer - Leo Murphy
  • Equipment manager - Morris Kono

[2]

Roster

1969 Cleveland Browns roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL)

Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams

Rookies in italics

Preseason

On August 30, a crowd of 85,532 fans viewed a doubleheader at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. In the first contest, the Chicago Bears (with All-Pro running back Gale Sayers) played the AFL's Buffalo Bills (with rookie running back O. J. Simpson), while the Cleveland Browns hosted the Green Bay Packers in the second match.[3]

Exhibition schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance
1 August 10 vs. San Francisco 49ers at Seattle W 24–19 32,219
2 August 16 at Los Angeles Rams W 10–3 54,937
3 August 23 at San Diego Chargers T 19–19 36,005
4 August 30 Green Bay Packers L 17–27 85,532
5 September 6 at Washington Redskins W 20–10 45,994
6 September 13 vs. Minnesota Vikings at Akron L 16–23 28,561

Regular season schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record Attendance
1 September 21 at Philadelphia Eagles W 27–20 1–0 60,658
2 September 28 Washington Redskins W 27–23 2–0 82,581
3 October 5 Detroit Lions L 21–28 2–1 82,933
4 October 12 at New Orleans Saints W 27–17 3–1 71,274
5 October 18 Pittsburgh Steelers W 42–31 4–1 84,078
6 October 26 St. Louis Cardinals T 21–21 4–1–1 81,186
7 November 2 Dallas Cowboys W 42–10 5–1–1 84,850
8 November 9 at Minnesota Vikings L 3–51 5–2–1 47,700
9 November 16 at Pittsburgh Steelers W 24–3 6–2–1 47,670
10 November 23 New York Giants W 28–17 7–2–1 80,595
11 November 30 at Chicago Bears W 28–24 8–2–1 45,050
12 December 7 Green Bay Packers W 20–7 9–2–1 82,137
13 December 14 at St. Louis Cardinals W 27–21 10–2–1 44,924
14 December 21 at New York Giants L 14–27 10–3–1 62,966

Standings

NFL Century
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Cleveland Browns 10 3 1 .769 4–1–1 8–1–1 351 300 L1
New York Giants 6 8 0 .429 4–2 4–6 264 298 W3
St. Louis Cardinals 4 9 1 .308 3–2–1 3–6–1 314 389 L3
Pittsburgh Steelers 1 13 0 .071 0–6 0–10 218 404 L13

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Playoffs

See also: 1969 NFL playoffs
Round Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Recap
Eastern Conference December 27 at Dallas Cowboys W 38–14 1–0 Cotton Bowl 69,321 Recap
NFL Championship January 4, 1970 at Minnesota Vikings L 7–27 1–1 Metropolitan Stadium 47,900 Recap

References

  1. ^ "1969 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2007.
  2. ^ "1969 Cleveland Browns (NFL) - Pro Football Archives".
  3. ^ Rockin’ the Rockpile: The Buffalo Bills of the American Football League, p.439, Jeffrey J. Miller, ECW Press, 2007, ISBN 978-1-55022-797-0


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