User:Frank Anchor/Browns-Titans

The Browns–Titans rivalry is a National Football League (NFL) rivalry between the Cleveland Browns and the Tennessee Titans. The rivalry dates back to the 1970s when the Browns and then-Houston Oilers played in the AFC Central. The two teams were realigned into separate divisions for the season, however matchups are still considered heated between the two teams.

The Browns lead the overall series, 37–32. The Oilers won the two teams' lone playoff meeting in the 1988 Wild Card Round.

Origins
The Cleveland Browns were founded in 1946 and competed in the All America Football Conference until that league folded in 1950. The Browns were one of three AAFC teams absorbed into the NFL at that time. The Browns enjoyed success in their early history, winning the AAFC championship in all four seasons of its existence, along with four NFL titles in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Houston Oilers were a founding member of the American Football League (AFL) in 1960. The Oilers also enjoyed early success, winning the first two AFL titles and appearing in two additional AFL championship games in the decade.

When the AFL completed its merger with the NFL in, the Browns, along with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Colts were given a $3 million payment to join the former AFL teams to form the American Football Conference (AFC). The Browns joined the AFC largely due to owner Art Modell seeing the prospects of a potential in-state rivalry with the Cincinnati Bengals. The Browns and Oilers were both placed in the AFC Central along with the Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. As division rivals, the teams played each other twice per season from 1970 through, except the strike-shortened season and the three years the Browns suspended operations from  to.

1970s: Browns' early dominance
The teams' first meeting was on November 22, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, in which the Browns won 28–14. The Browns and Oilers met for the first time in Houston two weeks later, with Cleveland coming away with a 21–10 win. Houston's two losses were part of their disappointing debut season in the NFL in which they lost eight of their final nine games en route to a 3–10–1 finish.

The Browns dominated the early part of the rivalry, winning the teams' first nine meetings and 12 of the first 15. The Oilers struggled throughout much of the 1970s, missing the playoffs their first eight years in the merged NFL.

The Oilers had some good moments in their series with the Browns; they recorded their first win of the series on December 15, 1974, with a 28–24 home victory. The Oilers swept the series including a 40–10 blowout win in Cleveland, marking their first away win of the series. The Oilers also finished the decade strong, winning three of the last four meetings in the decade.

1980s: First playoff meeting
The season was the first to see both the Browns and Oilers qualify for the playoffs. After an early season Oilers win in Cleveland, the teams faced off in Houston on November 30 with playoff implications for both teams. The Browns defense forced five Oilers turnovers as they went on to win 17–14, creating a three-way tie atop the division between the Browns, Oilers, and Pittsburgh Steelers. The Browns and Oilers each finished the season 11–5, with Cleveland winning the division based on a better conference record. Houston qualified for the playoffs as a wild card team, but both teams lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion Oakland Raiders.

Both teams struggled for the next several years. However the Browns had the better of the rivalry, including a 6-game winning streak from to.

On December 18,, the teams met in the final week of the regular season in Cleveland. Both teams had already clinched a wild card playoff spot and were assured of playing each other in the Wild Card round the following week, but home field advantage would be determined by the winner of this game. Trailing 23–14 in the fourth quarter, the Browns scored two unanswered touchdowns to take a 28–23 win.

Six days later on Christmas Eve, the Oilers returned to Cleveland for the Wild Card playoff game, their only postseason meeting to date. The Oilers led 14–9 at halftime on the strength of two Allen Pinkett touchdowns against three Matt Bahr field goals. The Browns took a 16–14 lead on a touchdown pass from backup quarterback Mike Pagel to Webster Slaughter, but Houston responded with a 76-yard drive that was capped with Lorenzo White's 1-yard touchdown run to take a 21–16 lead. Oilers cornerback Richard Johnson's interception set up a Tony Zendejas field goal with 1:54 left in the game to put the Oilers ahead by eight points, essentially clinching the game (as the two-point conversion was not adopted by the NFL until ). The Browns got to within one point with a late touchdown but could not recover the onside kick, allowing Houston to run the clock out.

1990s: Relocations
The Browns struggled throughout the early 1990s, while the Oilers made the playoffs each of the first four seasons in the decade, including AFC Central titles in and.

The Oilers won seven of the eight meetings between and 1993. On December 9. 1990, the Oilers posted a 58–14 win over the Browns. With a 44-point margin of victory, this game remains the largest in the series.

On September 17,, the two teams met in Houston for a final time, though this was not known during their game. The Browns won the game, 14–7. On November

On November 6, 1995, Browns owner Art Modell announced the team would relocate to Baltimore beginning the following season. The city of Cleveland filed a lawsiut against Modell. The resulting settlement required the Browns' name, colors, and history remain in Cleveland, while Modell was granted an expansion franchise, the Baltimore Ravens, who retained the contracts of the then-Browns players and personnel. Meanwhile, following the 1995 season, the Oilers announced their intention to move to Nashville in 1998, after their lease to the Astrodome ended. A lack of fan and commercial support in 1996 allowed the team to leave Houston a year early.

The teams' final match before the relocations was on November 5, the day before Modell announced the Browns' intention to move to Baltimore. The Oilers won the game 37–10.

1999–2001: New Browns vs. Titans
The Oilers were allowed to end their lease at the Astrodome one year early, and played the season at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis as the "Tennessee Oilers." The team moved to Nashville the following season and opened Adelphia Coliseum in, when they rebranded as the "Tennessee Titans."

After the 1995 Browns moved to Baltimore and were refranchised as the Baltimore Ravens, the Browns officially suspended operations from 1996–1998 and resumed operations in 1999 with the opening of Cleveland Browns Stadium. The 1999 Browns were stocked with an expansion draft.

The first meeting between the newly-named Titans and the reactivated Browns occurred on September 19, 1999, in Nashville. The Titans won the game 26–9. The Titans went on to play in Super Bowl XXXIV that season.

The Titans won the first five meetings against the reactivated Browns. However, on December 30, 2001, the Browns came back from a fourth-quarter 38–24 deficit to score 17 unanswered points and win 41–38.

2002–present: After realignment
Prior to the season, the NFL added the Houston Texans as its 32nd team and realigned each conference into four 4-team divisions. The Browns remained in the AFC Central, which was renamed the AFC North, while the Titans were placed in the newly-created AFC South. No longer being in the same division, the Browns and Titans would play each other at a minimum once every third season, when the entire AFC North played the entire AFC South. During season in which the two divisions do not play each other, the Browns and Titans would only meet if the two teams finished in the same position in their respective divisions the previous season.

Despite no longer sharing a division, the Browns and Titans have played in some memorable games since realignment.

On September 22, 2002, the Browns came back from a 28–14 deficit in the final three minutes to tie the score at 28 and win the game in overtime, 31–28.

On October 5,, the Browns set the record for the biggest comeback by an away team. Trailing 28–3 late in the second quarter, the Browns came back for a 29–28 win as Brian Hoyer threw a game-winning touchdown pass to Travis Benjamin with 1:09 remaining.

On September 8,, the teams opened the season with a meeting in Cleveland. The Browns were favored and considered playoff contenders after a strong finish to the previous season. The Titans held a narrow 15–13 lead late in the third quarter. However, they went on to score 28 unanswered points and their defense intercepted three Baker Mayfield passes in the fourth quarter to turn the game into a 43–13 blowout.

On December 6,, the Browns and Titans met in Nashville with both teams holding 8–3 records and battling for playoff positioning. The Browns raced to a 38–7 halftime lead with Mayfield setting a franchise record throwing four first-half touchdowns. However, Tennessee battled back in the second half and narrowed the Browns' lead to six points in the final minute, but the Browns hung on for a 41–35 win.