the cleveland browns last winning season was in 1964.
the cleveland browns last winning season was in 1964.
when was the cleveland browns last winning season?
1964
leading into the game, the browns were huge underdogs. most experts had them losing by double digits. baltimore was so heavily favored that after the browns won the game, "sports illustrated" had to scramble to find a picture of a browns player to put on its cover. baltimore had the league's best offense and had a league best record of 12–2. they were stacked with future hall of famers such as johnny unitas, lenny moore, and john mackey. the browns though, were unfazed by the apparent talent disparity and jim brown was reported stating before the game, "we're going to kick their [butt] today." the game-time temperature that day was 34 degrees and felt much colder in 15- to 25-mph winds whipping under gray december sky. the municipal stadium crowd of 79,544 was the second largest in nfl title-game history at the time. the browns knew that if they wanted to be in the game they had to make a statement early on, and they did just that. galen fiss, the browns team captain, broke up a screen pass from unitas to moore, sending moore airborne for a loss. the browns tenacity on defense is what got them to the half time score of 0–0. brown's running back ernie green reported after the game about half time, "we cleaned ourselves and sat down, and it seemed like something came over all of us. i think we all kind of looked at each other and concluded, 'hey, we can beat these guys.'" not only did the browns "beat" the colts in the second half, they destroyed them, scoring 27 unanswered points. gary collins became a cleveland browns legend by catching three touch down passes, the third one being a 51-yarder with colts defender bobby boyd all over him. the biggest story of the game was how well cleveland's defense played against baltimore's heralded offense. cleveland was able to hold unitas to just 95 yards while intercepting him twice.
1964 cleveland browns season
during the off-season, the browns signed key free agents eric steinbach (cincinnati, offensive guard), jamal lewis (baltimore, running back), and robaire smith (tennessee, defensive end).









































the browns ultimately finished the season with a 10–6 record but nevertheless failed to qualify for the playoffs. they were beaten for the division title on a tiebreaker by the pittsburgh steelers and lost another tiebreaker for a wildcard berth to the tennessee titans. as of the 2018 nfl season, this remains the best record and the last winning season the browns have had since returning to the nfl in 1999.









































section::::off-season.









































section::::off-season.:coaching staff changes.
2007 cleveland browns season