Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

BD Sullivan wrote:

Saban wrote:In that 1966 Giants game (49-40), Cleveland was coming off a Thanksgiving Day loss to Dallas that all but eliminated the Browns from playoff contention. Cleveland seemed down and played lethargically through most of the game. The field was quite slippery and this seemed to help the Giants early in the game (Clarence Childs returned the opening kickoff for a TD) and the Browns late in the game.

One pregame report listed the Browns as a 27-point favorite in the game, which seems absurd. However, there's no doubt they were huge favorites and almost took the prize for most embarrassing loss.

Cleveland did not play so well the following week either, losing to Philadelphia 33 to 21. That Eagles win allowed them to play in the old runnerup bowl (playoff bowl) instead of Cleveland. Maybe Cleveland didn't want to win that game very badly.

Eagles? My guess is '50 opener being #1. As for their two SB-defeats? Losing to Raiders in Jan '81 would have to get the nod considering they just beat DALLAS then were slated against a team whom they were favored against (beat during regular season).

While we're on 1980, I would guess for the Chargers it would be either that AFCC-loss to Oakland or their divisional-round-loss to Pats 26 years later battling for '2nd'-place. First place, of course, being '79 divisional to undermanned Oilers.

Dolphins?? SBVI really not a good choice being Mia was a new-enough team - fans should have been happy they were in the game in the first place, right? 'Sea of Hands', I guess, would be #1 considering they were back-to-back defending-Champs and they would have at least gave the 'Burgh a better game if not, perhaps, actually three-peated. '80s SB-losses not really being that the first was...in '82 and the other against what I feel was against a truly better and more-balanced SF team. 'Epic'? Nope! Bengals bury them in -59 wind-chill. '92 AFCC not a good one either because were they really expected to beat Bills? And if they do get by...what chance could they have possibly had vs Super-talented and SB-ready Big D?? The only Dolphin disappoint on-par with 'Hands' is '85 AFCC being that there are many Dolphin-fans who feel they beat Mighty Bears again in a rematch two weeks later.

I would rank San Diego's 2006 loss to New England as worse than the 1979 loss to Houston. The '06 team was a 14-2 powerhouse who were in complete control of the Patriots game until Marlon McCree fumbled his game clinching interception back to Brady. The 12-4 '79 team was also tremendous but they were awful in the playoff game and deserved to lose to the Oilers "B" team.

Saban wrote:Detroit Lions: 56 to 10 loss in the 1954 NFL championship game. Detroit was going for a NFL Championship Three-peat. If Lions win that game, then the 1950's Detroit Lions would be considered one of the greatest football teams in history.

As it was, Detroit was a great team with many great players. They probably get downgraded due to that game and the losing season that followed. Also, the fact that not as many people saw pro football on TV as in the years that followed their championship run from 1952 through 1957.

After 1957, the Detroit Lions seemed to have a curse on them or something.

Another Detroit game that was right up there was the season final loss to the Chicago Bears in 1956, 38 to 21. Detroit needed a win or tie against the Bears to get into the NFL Championship game with the New York Giants. The big incident of that game was Ed Meadows hard tackle on Bobby Layne early in the 2nd quarter that put Layne out of the game with a concussion. The Bears went on to win, but Detroit people blamed the loss on losing Bobby and accused Meadows of dirty football (I would like to see that play sometime to see how dirty it was, if at all, but it doesn't seem to be on film anywhere).

Layne's backup quarterback, Harry Gilmer, took over for Bobby and threw 2 touchdown passes and completed another to the 1 yard line that was shortly turned into 6 points for Detroit. It wasn't enough though because the Bears scored enough to win 38 to 21.

Even though Detroit people blamed the loss on Meadow's hit on Layne, the real story may have been that the Lions could not stop the Bears running game. Chicago gained 309 yards on the ground that day; 190 yards alone by their star fullback Rick Casares. Harlon Hill, the Bears great end, got open for a long touchdown pass as well.

The game was in Chicago and the Bears were really up for that game after getting blown out in their first game in Detroit, 42 to 10. Lions president Edwin Anderson even admitted that we (Lions) were up for the game, but the Bears were up higher. He also said that Detroit did better than expected in 1956 after finishing in last place in 1955. So, the final outcome may have been decided by which team really wanted the victory more.

The Chicago Bears got clobbered in the championship game by the Giants in New York, 47 to 7. Would Detroit have done any better if they had advanced to the title game against New York? I guess that we will never know.

Rams...overall, of course, would be SBXXXVI-loss to Pats.

I have the NFL's Greatest Games show about this game, and Kurt Warner said that they tried to be too perfect the next year after that loss. They really didn't think that NE could beat them, and maybe it took them a year to get over it. Another big factor that led to the downfall of The Greatest Show on Turf was poor drafting in the early-00's. For example, they took Trung Canidate in 2000 over Marvel Smith, Mike Brown, and Darren Howard.

Also, it is possible that the downfall of that team is the reason that they are back in LA today.

'92 AFCC not a good one either because were they really expected to beat Bills? And if they do get by...what chance could they have possibly had vs Super-talented and SB-ready Big D??

I think the Fins had a good shot against Buffalo if they would have tried to run the ball more (only 11 attempts wasn't going to cut it) against an average Bill run defense.

Saints?

'80 collapse at Candlestick, perhaps, first thought. Epidemy of 'the Aints'. However, IMO, that '80 campaign goes down as a disaster even if they do hang on. MNF-loss to Raiders year prior comes to mind only to then be self-reminded that even if they do win (assuming they still lose to SD next week), Saints are still boxed-out going into finale due to Rams' better division record (5-0 to 3-2). Getting clubbed by Burnsie's bunch 1st-round '87 is a good one but it was their first ever playoff berth. Losing to Grossman's "they are who we said they were" Bears in '06 could be suggested, but Saints came out of nowhere and did make it to their first ever CC.

For me, loss at 7-9 Hawks in '10 has to be head-and-shoulders above all. They were 12-4 defending-Champs. As I said before, IMO the Pack was best once that post-season began but it would have been quite interesting to see how things wind up had Saints averted that Monster upset - GB@NO NFCC would have been a good one!

Saban wrote:Cleveland Browns: 55 to 7 loss to Green Bay in 1967 was probably the most humiliating. Browns considered themselves about equal to the mighty Packers until then.

The worst for the franchise, IMO, was the 1958 Pat Summerall field goal game won by the Giants 13 to 10. Cleveland wins or ties that game and they get the home field for the NFL championship game against the Colts. The next year the Browns beat Baltimore in the Colts own ballpark, 38 to 31. There was a big controversial call that went the Giants way in the Summerall game.

Dishonorable Mention: 1953 Championship game. For younger Browns fans: Red Right 88 game against Oakland, The Fumble game against Denver, and as BD said, the Drive, also against Denver.

About that 55 to 7 Cleveland loss to Green Bay: I can't find any film of that game anyplace. I wonder if Art Modell somehow made sure that that film was not available, like he was afraid that it would hurt his legacy or something.

I would like to see it because by the time the network switched to that game, it was already about 28 to 7 in favor of Green Bay. I know that the roadrunner, Travis Williams, ran for 2 TD's on kickoff returns in the first quarter alone, but I would like to see what else happened.

Saban wrote:

Saban wrote:Cleveland Browns: 55 to 7 loss to Green Bay in 1967 was probably the most humiliating. Browns considered themselves about equal to the mighty Packers until then.

The worst for the franchise, IMO, was the 1958 Pat Summerall field goal game won by the Giants 13 to 10. Cleveland wins or ties that game and they get the home field for the NFL championship game against the Colts. The next year the Browns beat Baltimore in the Colts own ballpark, 38 to 31. There was a big controversial call that went the Giants way in the Summerall game.

Dishonorable Mention: 1953 Championship game. For younger Browns fans: Red Right 88 game against Oakland, The Fumble game against Denver, and as BD said, the Drive, also against Denver.

About that 55 to 7 Cleveland loss to Green Bay: I can't find any film of that game anyplace. I wonder if Art Modell somehow made sure that that film was not available, like he was afraid that it would hurt his legacy or something.

I would like to see it because by the time the network switched to that game, it was already about 28 to 7 in favor of Green Bay. I know that the roadrunner, Travis Williams, ran for 2 TD's on kickoff returns in the first quarter alone, but I would like to see what else happened.

In their playoff game after the 1967 season, the Browns lost to the Cowboys 52-14.

I saw that game. In the Packer game, the Browns had a lot of turnovers to go along with Travis' kickoff returns.

In the Dallas playoff, Dallas simply outplayed the Browns. Cleveland could not do much on offense, and the Browns defense could not seem to stop the Cowboys. Both games were on the road and Cleveland was not a very good road team in 1967. Cleveland played Dallas tougher in the opener losing 21 to 14 in Cleveland. It was Cleveland's first ever home loss to the Cowboys.

In my humble opinion, Cleveland had their worst team of the 60's in 1967. They not only got slaughtered by Green Bay and Dallas, but lost to the Giants after beating them 6 times in a row, and lost to a 5-7-2 Detroit team, 31 to 14, The Giants and Detroit losses were both on the road. Cleveland's only home loss that year was in the opener against Dallas.

The Browns also lost in the old runnerup bowl to the Rams, 30 to 6.

Don't know if it's the worst but in the 60's The Packers not surprisingly beat The Bears more times then lost and one bad loos was a 1962 game where The Pack beat them 49-0.

I can't imagine how enraged Halas must have been after that loss.