When The Browns Flirted With Greatness
For most of the Super Bowl era, the Cleveland Browns have lived far from the NFL’s biggest stages. The 1980s were the exception. Over the course of the decade, Cleveland fielded multiple contending teams, produced MVP-level quarterback play, and came closer to a Super Bowl berth than at any other point in the modern history of the franchise. The “Dawg Pound”, as Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium became known, was home to one of the great fan bases in sports.
It began with the Kardiac Kids of 1980, a wildly entertaining team led by Brian Sipe that brought playoff football back to Cleveland. It continued under Marty Schottenheimer in the mid-to-late 1980s, when a disciplined, physical roster built around Bernie Kosar, a strong running game, and an excellent defense made the Browns a playoff fixture.
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Cleveland reached three AFC Championship Games in four seasons and stood toe-to-toe with the best teams of the era. But they also became synonymous with heartbreak, their seasons repeatedly ending just short of the Super Bowl in games that remain etched into NFL lore.
Inside This Collection
- The rise of the 1980 Kardiac Kids and Brian Sipe’s MVP season
- Marty Schottenheimer’s rebuild and Cleveland’s return to contention
- Bernie Kosar’s development and peak years
- Three AFC Championship Game runs
- The final act of the decade and the abrupt end of an era
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Download Dawg Pound Days for free in the OUAT Museum today.