Browns-Bengals feud began with the man who created both

The NFL has two franchises in one state, both created by the same man. It’s that shared history that created an enduring rivalry.

Paul Brown created the Cleveland Browns. He also grew to hate them, creating their chief rival.

In 1946, Cleveland needed a new team. The Rams, fresh off an NFL championship, left before the new season for Los Angeles. In stepped Brown and his squad in the newly-formed All-America Football Conference, with a team named after himself.

The Browns quickly became one of the most dominant pro football teams in history. They won four consecutive titles before the All-America Football Conference merged with the NFL in 1950. Cleveland then reeled off six straight championship game appearances, winning three.

However, Brown and his team would soon part company. Art Modell bought the club in 1961 and in Jan. ’63, fired the only man to ever coach the team.

For five years, Brown stewed. Then he got his revenge.

In 1968, Brown was part of an ownership group which brought the Cincinnati Bengals into existence with the American Football League. Brown wanted no part of the upstart AFL, but with a merger agreement in place with the NFL beginning in 1970, knew he was only two seasons from being back in the original league.

In no coincidence, the Bengals’ uniforms were strikingly similar to Cleveland’s, featuring orange helmets as the focal point. They played in Ohio, and once the AFL-NFL merger was complete, both teams were placed in the AFC Central.

That season, the Bengals were expected to flounder as a younger team while the Browns, fresh off an appearance in the NFL title game, were seen as clear frontrunners. Cincinnati began the season 1-6 before winning seven straight to close the campaign, including a 14-10 triumph over Cleveland in Week 9.

The Bengals improbably won the division, something they would do again in 1973. Before Brown retired as coach following the ’75 season, Cincinnati had reached the playoffs three times in its six NFL seasons, while Cleveland only saw the postseason twice in that same span.

In the years since Brown’s retirement, the feud has only grown in Ohio.

When both teams were Super Bowl contenders in the late ’80s, Bengals coach Sam Wyche admonished his home crowd for throwing objects on the field during a game, grabbing a microphone and yelling “Will the next person that sees anybody throw anything onto this field, point them out, and get them out of here. You don’t live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati!”

However, the two teams have rarely been competitive at the same time.

The Bengals and Browns have only shared the AFC playoffs on two occasions — 1982 and ’88 — and they’ve never played against one another in the postseason. In fact, it’s arguable the most memorable game ever contested between the teams was in 1995, the final affair at Cleveland Municipal Stadium before the Browns relocated to Baltimore.

While Cleveland and Cincinnati have a nationally underrated rivalry, it’s perhaps the only one born of unabashed scorn and anger. Brown’s fury toward Modell and his old club was deeply personal, and considering the stature of Brown, it makes the combative situation all the more important.

Nobody has been more influential in NFL history than Paul Brown. He created modern pass-blocking schemes. He invented the facemask. He devised scouting techniques. He was the first coach to call plays. He installed a radio in quarterback Otto Graham’s helmet. The list goes on.

On Monday night, the Browns and Bengals will tangle for the 98th time. Brown’s son, Mike, will be in the visitor’s owners box at FirstEnergy Stadium. Cincinnati will try to extend its lead over Cleveland in the AFC North to 3.5 games over the hosting Browns, once more putting the Dawg Pound in the unenviable position of watching irrelevant football by November.

And if Paul Brown were alive, that’s exactly what he would want for the team bearing his name.