1948 Browns finally defeated

02.20.2008

The 1948 Browns have finally been defeated.

Not on the football field, mind you -- that record will forever stay intact -- but in the corporate offices of the NFL.

As pointed out by staff writer Tony Grossi in Sunday's Cleveland Plain Dealer, the league has said no to a written request by U.S, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio that it include in its records books the records of the Browns and other teams in the All-America Football Conference from 1946-49.

Of particular interest to Brown and Browns fans is the inclusion of the records from the 1948 Browns, who posted a perfect 15-0 record to win theirs third consecutive league title.

All of this came up, of course, when the New England Patriots' bid for a perfect season ended with their loss to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl 16 days ago, leaving the 1972 Miami Dolphins (17-0) as the NFL's lone team to finish a season unbeaten and untied.

Brown sent the letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, but a written response was received not from Goodell but rather from longtime league official Joe Browne, executive vice president of communication and public affairs.

As expected, Browne's rationale for the league denying Brown's request, while the NFL at the same time includes all the records of the now-defunct American Football League, is that the AFL was absorbed wholly into the NFL in 1970 as part of a merger deal while only three teams, the Browns, San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts, went into the NFL for the 1950 season when the AAFC went out of business.

That's true, but here's the rub, and the part that bothers a lot of Browns fans, historians and the handful of players left over from that club: It is not rational for the NFL to say, in essence, that the AFL, especially in its early years, was a better league than the AAFC.

The Browns ran roughshod over the NFL in their first six seasons in that league, 1950-55, winning three championships and playing in the NFL title game the other three times. In addition, the 49ers, the second-best team in the AAFC and the Browns' chief rivals during that league's existence, posted four straight winning seasons in the NFL from 1951-54, and led the NFL in scoring in 1953 with 366 points.

In addition, a lot of players continued to excel individually in the NFL after coming out of the AAFC. The Browns' long list of Pro Football Hall of Famers -- Otto Graham, Bill Willis, Marion Motley, Frank Gatski, Dante Lavelli and even head coach Paul Brown -- can attest to that.

There are many who will point to those things and others and claim that the AAFC was a superior league to the AFL, and even to the NFL at that same time. While that opinion is left up to debate, it has to be acknowledged that the AAFC was, in its very least, the equivalent of the AFL. The fact that economics dictated that not all of the AAFC teams went into the NFL would seem to be a moot point.

While the 1950 Browns were going 10-2 on their way to winning the NFL crown, and clubbed the two-time defending NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles 35-10 on the road in their first-ever NFL regular-season game, six of the 10 former AFL teams had losing records in 1970 in their first year in the NFL.

The New York Jets went from 10-4 and a playoff appearance in the AFL in 1969 to a 4-10 mark in the NFL in 1970; the Houston Oilers from 6-6-2 to 3-10-1; the San Diego Chargers from 8-6 to 5-6-3; the Boston Patriots from 4-10 to 2-12; the Buffalo Bills from 4-10 to 3-10-1; and the Denver Broncos remained at 5-8-1.

In the AFC East in 1970, a Baltimore Colts team that had gone 8-5-1 in the NFL in 1969 improved to 11-2-1 and win the division crown over four former AFL clubs. The Colts, in fact, went on to capture the Super Bowl.

The Pittsburgh Steelers went from 1-13 in the NFL in 1969 to 5-9 in '70 while competing in the AFC Central.

Despite what the NFL says, the AAFC -- and especially those 1948 Browns -- deserve their due. They played three games in eight days on opposite coasts against their toughest foes and won each time. What NFL team -- before or since -- can say that?

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is exactly that and recognizes the accomplishments of all pro teams throughout history, no matter what their league. With that in mind, then, for the time being at least, the 1948 Browns and their fans are going to have to be satisfied with getting plaudits for perfection from only Canton, Ohio, and not also New York.