2025 NFL schedule: Browns set to renew team’s first-ever rivalry

It all began in another NFL rival league

If you are a Cleveland Browns fan, you are quite aware of the fierce rivalry the club has with each member of the AFC North Division. And rightly so. Whichever team wins the division title receives an instant berth into the postseason tournament, bragging rights, and a chance to play in that year’s Super Bowl, where the winner is crowned the league’s champion.

Add the fact that these teams play each other twice each season. That adds up to a ton of games, which gets each squad very familiar with the other team’s roster.

The Cincinnati Bengals are in-state, which makes for instant competition. Plus, Paul Brown was the founder of the Bengals¹ who had previously led the Browns to seven pro football championships, and then was unceremoniously fired from his post. For years after his release, the tension was excessive between the two clubs.

With the Baltimore Ravens, the fact that their very essence was once the Cleveland franchise is enough of a thorn to any Browns fan. Officials from Baltimore actively pursued Cleveland’s owner Art Modell² and then, with a ton of financial incentives, persuaded Modell to relocate the storied franchise and leave the City of Cleveland without a team.

Then there is the Pittsburgh Steelers. This is arguably Cleveland’s fiercest rivalry. Any victory against Pittsburgh is like Christmas Day. If either team went 2-15-0 in a season, but both wins were against the other club, it would be considered a very good year.

But it wasn’t always this way. In fact, the Browns’ very first rivalry was located on the West Coast, 2,456 miles away.

The San Francisco 49ers.

The 2025 season will rekindle this historical event because the Browns just happen to host the 49ers this year.

But how did a California club become the main rivalry with a team seated comfortably in the Midwest, namely the State of Ohio?

A new league

When the United States became involved in World War II, a lot of professional athletes were drafted into the military, or these men volunteered and signed up. After the war ended, these same men wanted to resume playing football. There was also a surplus of men who were in the military instead of participating in their sophomore, junior, and senior college seasons, who had lost their final years of college football eligibility.

Meanwhile, several wealthy men had inquired with the NFL about getting an expansion team³. But the NFL owners did not want any new blood into their league, and stated expansion wasn’t on their agenda.

So, these men who were denied an NFL team started their own league with the availability of hundreds of able-bodied athletes arriving daily from the war effort. They called their new entity the “All-America Football Conference” (AAFC). The usage of the word “conference” was in respect to college football. This new league signed numerous former NFL players and coaches and hired some of college football’s best players annually.

One other aspect came into play. Travel to games had predominantly been by train, but beginning in 1946, air travel became available. The AAFC seized this opportunity to place a team in San Francisco and Los Angeles. After the Cleveland Rams captured the 1945 NFL title, they relocated to Los Angeles as well.

A new AAFC team was placed in Cleveland⁴. The owner hired Paul Brown as the club’s head coach. Coach Brown was one of the state’s most famous sports figures, having won six high school state titles plus a National Championship while head coach at Ohio State before the war effort.

With eight clubs, the new league was divided into two divisions and began in 1946. The Eastern Division comprised the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Dodgers, Buffalo Bisons, and Miami Seahawks. The Western Division had the Cleveland Browns, Chicago Rockets, Los Angeles Dons, and San Francisco 49ers. Despite being Midwestern cities, both Cleveland and Chicago were placed in the west because of the geographic locations of the other four eastern teams.

The AAFC lasted four years and drove up the value of player contracts. In its maiden season of 1946, the playoffs were structured just like the NFL, with the two division winners competing in the league championship game.

Initially, all teams in the AAFC built their roster in any manner they wanted. The Browns were built by Coach Brown, who had previous high school and college ties and knew the abilities of lots of players. While still at war, Coach Brown signed many athletes who were stationed at military bases across the globe so that when the war was over, they were already under contract. Basically, Coach Brown cherry-picked and assembled a very strong roster.

But there were other really good teams in the league.

The Brooklyn Tigers were an NFL team that had defected from the established league and joined the AAFC instead. The Tigers’ owner had purchased Yankee Stadium and wanted his club to play home games there, but the New York Football Giants had territorial rights and would not concede. So, the Tigers’ owner, Dan Topping, pulled his team⁵ from the NFL, renamed them the New York Yankees⁶, and played his games in the venue that he owned anyway – just in another league.

So, they already had a full roster of NFL players. This fact made them the superior club in the Eastern Division right away. The Yankees would win the Eastern Division in 1946 and also in 1947, but lose to the Browns in the AAFC Championship Game both years.

Cleveland only played the Yankees once a year. But as good as the Yankees were, the team that gave the Browns the most fits was the 49ers.

The Browns’ first rivalry

Settled into the AAFC’s Western Division, the Browns played each club in their division twice a season, with Chicago always the weakest team. But the Dons and 49ers had terrific rosters each year.

When the Rams were still in Cleveland, they played their home games at League Park, which had a seating capacity of 22,500 and was an old wooden stadium built for baseball. With high-profile games against the NFL’s best clubs, the Rams would occasionally rent Cleveland Municipal Stadium, which housed 81,000 fans.

Right off, the Browns held their home games at Cleveland Municipal Stadium and used League Park as a practice facility only. In their first year, the Browns played at home before 71,134 patrons against the Dons and 70,385 versus the Niners.

In 1946, the Browns finished with a 12-2-0 record three games ahead of San Fran and five games in front of Los Angeles. But the two losses were to both of these clubs, as they lost 34-20 to the 49ers and 17-16 against the Dons.

While Coach Brown had signed former Northwestern star Otto Graham (6’-1”, 196 pounds) to quarterback his club, the 49ers had inked their first player⁷ in southpaw QB Frankie Albert (5’-9”, 166 pounds) of Stanford and a Two-time All-American. During the war, Graham had obligated himself to the Coast Guard while Albert served four years in the Navy.

In Week 8, Cleveland held an undefeated record of 7-0-0 going into the division game against 4-3-0 San Francisco. The Browns had the league’s best offensive attack while the 49ers were blessed with a stiff defense. So, the contest was viewed as a must-win for both teams.

The 49ers blasted out a 20-6 halftime lead behind two Joe Vetrano field goals and a 16-yard touchdown pass from Albert to Alyn Beals. The 49ers’ defense stymied Cleveland’s passing attack. Albert came out in the second half and tossed two more touchdowns as the Browns scored two late fourth-quarter scores to lose 34-20. Graham had been sacked five times for -22 yards rushing as the Browns had gained just 54 yards rushing the entire game and committed six turnovers.

Not only was the loss Cleveland’s first of the year, but the 49ers had beaten the Browns in their own stadium and were now 5-3-0 behind the Browns’ 7-1-0 record. San Francisco did own one first: they defeated the Browns in their first-ever rivalry game.

Two weeks later, the two clubs met in the Bay Area in what was perceived as the game that would determine who would win the division. A crowd of 41,061 packed Kezar Stadium in San Francisco. Again, Cleveland could not mount a rushing attack as they gained just 88 rushing yards, but their passing attack proved to be the game winner as Graham hit WR Dante Lavelli with a three-yard dart as the Browns built a 14-0 lead at the half and won 14-7.

It would become the first year that the Browns vs. 49ers would become the AAFC’s fiercest rivalry.

In 1947, Cleveland ended 12-1-1 with a 13-10 loss against the Dons and tied the Yankees 28-28.

Against the 49ers (5-1-1), the Browns (6-1-0) won another 14-7 contest on the road before 54,483 West Coast fans, and in the Week 11 home game in front of 76,504 patrons, witnessed a 37-14 Cleveland victory. It was literally the game that sealed the division crown away from the pesky Niners.

1948: Undefeated and untied in jeopardy

In the 1948 season, the Browns became the second pro football team to go undefeated and untied in a single season by their 14-0-0 regular season record and subsequent 49-7 win over the Buffalo Bills in the AAFC Championship Game.

But it was the two contests against the 49ers that proved the most difficult.

In Week 11, San Francisco was 10-0-0. Cleveland was 9-0-0. They squared off at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in front of 82,769 football fans.

Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images

Albert was believed to be one of the best quarterbacks in the league and considered a magician with the ball. He had been the 10^th overall pick in the first round by the Chicago Bears when he signed to play in the AAFC for more money. The 49ers came into the game confident they could knock Cleveland off its perch as the league’s elite club.

The matchup began in front of a standing-room only crowd. Graham dropped back to pass in the first quarter and was flushed from the pocket, but then scrambled 14 yards for the game’s first touchdown. On the next 49ers possession, San Fran drove the length of the field to where RB Joe Perry carried it over from the one to tie the game at 7-7.

Both defenses played tough, and a scoreless second period had the score tied at halftime. With the Browns’ second possession of Quarter 3, Browns RB Edgar Jones bowled over from the four to put Cleveland up 14-7. It became a defensive struggle for the remainder of the game, and once again, the Browns took home a 14-7 win. It would be the third season in a row that Cleveland defeated San Francisco in a game by that same score.

The rebound game occurred in Week 13 in San Fran with a near sellout of 59,785. The Browns were 12-0-0 while the 49ers were slightly behind in the standings at 11-1-0, so the rematch was another crucial contest.

Cleveland took a 10-0 lead with a 41-yard touchdown pass from Graham to WR Dante Lavelli and on their next possession a 24-yard Lou Groza field goal. But the lead was temporary. In the second quarter, the Niners drove the length of the field with a two-yard TD run by Perry, concluding the drive. Close to intermission, Albert found Beals on a four-yard pass which placed the home team up 14-10.

The 49ers scored on their first possession of the second half when Albert connected again with Beals, this time on a 29-yard catch and run. Suddenly, San Fran had a commanding 21-10 lead. But four turnovers in the game plagued the 49ers. Graham tossed three touchdowns in the third stanza to Marion Motley, Dub Jones, and Edgar Jones that turned the tables, and suddenly, Cleveland had flipped the game to a 31-21 lead. In the fourth quarter, Albert hit Perry on a six-yard pass to close the gap, but in the end, the Browns had come from behind and took a hard-fought 31-28 win.

The victory kept the Browns unbeaten and untied. It was the one game that should have broken their string of victories, but yet Cleveland’s defense caused two fumbles and intercepted Albert twice to preserve their unbeaten streak.

The final game of the 1948 season was the following week. Cleveland built a 31-0 lead against the pitiful Brooklyn Dodgers (2-11-0), then substituted in the backups before winning 31-21. The following week, the Browns defeated the Eastern champs Bills, 49-7 to finish 15-0-0.

But if Coach Brown had blessings to count, it would be both contests against the 49ers that could have been losses instead of a perfect season. San Fran had finished 12-2-0 with their only losses to Cleveland despite leading the league in scoring, averaging 35.4 points per game.

In 1949, the final year of existence for the AAFC, the Dodgers had merged with the Yankees, so the league was down to seven clubs. They did away with the divisional format and stacked all teams into one column, with the two best teams qualifying for the championship game.

Which fit perfectly for San Francisco. Each year, they had to fight the Browns for the division title and came in second each season as Cleveland went on to the title game and captured all three years as champions.

Cleveland once again was the dominant team and went 9-1-2. The Yankees finished 8-4-0 while the Niners came in second once again, going 9-3-0. The race for the top two spots was fierce. It looked like the Browns would continue their unbeaten streak as they reeled off four wins and a tie with Buffalo. But they met the 49ers in Week 6, and the wheels came flying off.

In their matchup, Cleveland came into San Francisco with a 4-0-1 record to the 49ers’ 4-1-0. Once again, it would be labeled the battle of supremacy of the league. San Fran built a 21-7 lead on Albert’s touchdown passes and held a 35-21 halftime advantage. After another Albert passing TD as the game’s only score in Quarter 3, the 49ers outscored Cleveland in the fourth quarter 14-7 to capture a 56-28 thumping of the Browns before 59,720 fans.

It was the worst loss for Coach Brown in his entire coaching career. After the game, the 49ers were now in first place with a sterling 5-1-0 record to Cleveland’s 4-1-1. This marked the first time in the AAFC that Cleveland was not listed in first place. The two would play again in three weeks. In the interim, San Fran beat Buffalo but lost to the Yankees. Cleveland had a bye and then defeated Los Angeles 61-14.

Going into the Week 10 rematch, the Yankees were 5-1-0 with Cleveland 5-1-1 while the 49ers were close behind at 6-2-0.

A crowd of 71,189 saw a great game. After a scoreless first quarter, both teams found the end zone twice to provide a 14-14 halftime score. Both teams once again scored before Groza booted a 38-yard field goal to take a 24-21 lead halfway into the final stanza. Then Graham found Mac Speedie for a 12-yard touchdown pass. Albert had a one-yard score late in the game, but the Browns won 30-28 in a wild game that was devoid of any turnovers or penalties and had a whopping 877 yards of combined offense.

At the same time, the Yankees defeated Baltimore and had a 6-1-0 record to lead the standings. Cleveland was now 6-1-1 while San Fran fell to 6-3-0 with three games left.

New York lost to Buffalo the next weekend, then to the Browns 31-0 in Week 13, and finally to San Francisco 35-14 in the final game, but beat Chicago and Los Angeles to finish 8-4-0. They had played three games in seven days. The 49ers went 3-0 down the stretch with a final record of 9-3-0 while Cleveland went 3-0-1 in their final games to finish 9-1-2.

The format for the postseason was also different. Instead of the top two teams automatically in the title game, the first-place club played the fourth-place finisher while #2 was pitted against #3. The Browns beat Buffalo 31-21 while San Fran took care of the Yankees 17-7. This set up San Francisco and Cleveland in the AAFC Championship Game for the first time ever. Neither team had much offense, but the Browns prevailed 21-7 on touchdown runs by Edgar Jones, Dub Jones, and Motley.

It would become the final game in the Browns-49ers rivalry. And it ended in the league championship game.

Ready to conquer the next league

The victory was Cleveland’s fourth title in as many years. It would also be their last in the AAFC.

In 1949, the NFL decided to end the bleeding by offering to merge the two leagues. However, the established entity only offered to accept two franchises and then wanted the remainder of the AAFC squads to fold.

The AAFC was willing and ready to merge, but negotiated for four clubs out of its seven teams.

The NFL countered by absorbing three teams: Cleveland, San Francisco, and the Baltimore Colts. In 1950, the NFL merged into its league those three AAFC teams⁹, as players from the defunct rosters were disbursed to various NFL clubs.

The four years of war between the two leagues escalated player salaries tremendously, with few teams in either league finding a profit at year’s end. All during the four-year existence of the AAFC, only two clubs finished seasons in the black: Cleveland and San Francisco. Both clubs had near sellouts when they played each other, the Yankees, and division foe Dons, and had great average gates in the other games.

The Browns finished their run in the AAFC, going 51-4-3. Two of those losses were to the 49ers. Cleveland won every division title and four AAFC titles.

In this same time span, San Francisco went 39-15-2 and finished in second place four times. They were 2-7-0 against the Browns.

When both clubs were placed into the NFL’s structure, the NFL owners attempted to punish the Browns and expose them as a very good minor league team that could not keep up with the big boys.

Obviously, the 49ers were inserted into the division along with western cities and placed in the National Division, which housed powerhouses the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams.

But the most brutal teams were located in the eastern portion of the country. That is the division the NFL owners placed the Browns in so that they would have the most difficult scenario of winning. Cleveland and Chicago are neighbors, yet the Browns were not positioned in the more western division.

Instead, going into the 1950 season now in the NFL, Cleveland was slotted in the American Division with the mighty New York Football Giants, Washington Redskins, and current league champion Philadelphia Eagles.

The Browns would play in the 1950 NFL Championship Game and defeat the Rams 30-28 in their first year in the established league, proving they were a solid professional football club. The win was Cleveland’s fifth consecutive pro football championship in their five-year history.

This disconnected the Browns-49ers rivalry as San Fran would replace Cleveland with the Rams, while the Browns would find a new rival in the Giants for the next two decades.

Before Cleveland’s rivalries became the Steelers, Ravens, and Bengals, it was the San Francisco 49ers as their first adversary.

Notes:

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1. Paul Brown Museum, “Paul Brown Invented Football as We Know It Today: The Pros”

2. Timothy Redder, “Browns move in the works,” Cleveland Plain-Dealer, November 4, 1995

3. AlternateHistory.com, “Alternate NFL Expansion History,” December 24, 2012

4. Alvin Silverman, “60,135 See Browns in Debut Here,” Cleveland Plain-Dealer, September 6, 1946

5. John Eisenberg, The League, Basic Books, 2018

6. Matt Ferenchick, “A history of the football New York Yankees,” Pinstripe Alley, February 11, 2024

7. Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, 1981

8. Bruce Barcott, “The Real Story of the 49ers,” The Atlantic, February 2, 2020

9. Michael MacCambridge, America’s Game, Random House, 2004