1969 Cleveland Browns season

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1969 Cleveland Browns season
General manager Harold Sauerbrei
Head coach Blanton Collier
Home field Cleveland Stadium
Local radio WHK
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 Bowlers Bill 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.

Contents

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
RoundSelectionPlayerPositionCollegeNotes
120 Ron Johnson Running back Michigan
355 Al Jenkins Guard Tulsa
372 Chip Glass Tight end Florida State
498 Freddie Summers Defensive back Wake Forest
5124 Fair Hooker Wide receiver Arizona State
6145Larry AdamsDefensive tackle Texas Christian University
6150 Joe Righetti Defensive tackle Waynesburg
7176 Walt Sumner Defensive back Florida State
8202 Chuck Reynolds Center Tulsa
9228Ron KamzelskiDefensive tackle Minnesota
10254Greg ShellyGuard Virginia
11280 Dave Jones Wide receiver Kansas State
12306 Dick Davis Running back Nebraska
13332 Tommy Boutwell Wide receiver Southern Miss
14358 Jiggy Smaha Defensive tackle Georgia
15384Joel StevensonTight end Georgia Tech
16410James LoweFlanker Tuskegee
17436 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

WeekDateOpponentResultAttendance
1August 10vs. San Francisco 49ers at Seattle W 24–1932,219
2August 16at Los Angeles Rams W 10–354,937
3August 23at San Diego Chargers T 19–1936,005
4August 30 Green Bay Packers L 17–2785,532
5September 6at Washington Redskins W 20–1045,994
6September 13vs. Minnesota Vikings at Akron L 16–2328,561

Regular season schedule

WeekDateOpponentResultRecordAttendance
1September 21at Philadelphia Eagles W 27–201–060,658
2September 28 Washington Redskins W 27–232–082,581
3October 5 Detroit Lions L 21–282–182,933
4October 12at New Orleans Saints W 27–173–171,274
5October 18 Pittsburgh Steelers W 42–314–184,078
6October 26 St. Louis Cardinals T 21–214–1–181,186
7November 2 Dallas Cowboys W 42–105–1–184,850
8November 9at Minnesota Vikings L 3–515–2–147,700
9November 16at Pittsburgh Steelers W 24–36–2–147,670
10November 23 New York Giants W 28–177–2–180,595
11November 30at Chicago Bears W 28–248–2–145,050
12December 7 Green Bay Packers W 20–79–2–182,137
13December 14at St. Louis Cardinals W 27–2110–2–144,924
14December 21at New York Giants L 14–2710–3–162,966

Standings

NFL Century
WLTPCTDIVCONFPFPASTK
Cleveland Browns 1031.7694–1–18–1–1351300L1
New York Giants 680.4294–24–6264298W3
St. Louis Cardinals 491.3083–2–13–6–1314389L3
Pittsburgh Steelers 1130.0710–60–10218404L13

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

Playoffs

RoundDateOpponentResultRecordVenueAttendanceRecap
Eastern ConferenceDecember 27at Dallas Cowboys W 38–141–0 Cotton Bowl 69,321 Recap
NFL Championship January 4, 1970at Minnesota Vikings L 7–271–1 Metropolitan Stadium 47,900 Recap

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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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