1969 Cleveland Browns season

The 1969 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 20th season with the National Football League and their 24th overall in professional football and the last before the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger.

1969 Cleveland Browns season
General manager	Harold Sauerbrei
Head coach	Blanton Collier
Home stadium	Cleveland Stadium
Results
Record	10–3–1
Division place	1st NFL Century
Playoffs	Won Eastern Conference Championship Game (at Cowboys) 38–14 Lost NFL Championship (at Vikings) 7–27
Pro Bowlers	Bill Nelsen, QB Walter Johnson, DT Fred Hoaglin, C Jim Houston, LB Jack Gregory, DB Leroy Kelly, RB Paul Warfield, WR Gene Hickerson, G
← 1968 Browns seasons 1970 →

The Browns made it to the 1969 NFL Championship Game, where they fell to the Minnesota Vikings 27–7. The 1969 season would be the last year that Cleveland would win a postseason game until 1986. In addition, that victory over Dallas would also be the last time the Browns won a postseason game on the road until the 2020–21 playoffs. This was also the last season in which the Browns made it to the league championship game, as they have failed to reach the Super Bowl after the merger.

Offseason

NFL draft

The following were selected in the 1969 NFL/AFL draft.

1969 Cleveland Browns draft

Round	Selection	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	20	Ron Johnson	Running back	Michigan
3	55	Al Jenkins	Guard	Tulsa
3	72	Chip Glass	Tight end	Florida State
4	98	Freddie Summers	Defensive back	Wake Forest
5	124	Fair Hooker	Wide receiver	Arizona State
6	145	Larry Adams	Defensive tackle	Texas Christian University
6	150	Joe Righetti	Defensive tackle	Waynesburg
7	176	Walt Sumner	Defensive back	Florida State
8	202	Chuck Reynolds	Center	Tulsa
9	228	Ron Kamzelski	Defensive tackle	Minnesota
10	254	Greg Shelly	Guard	Virginia
11	280	Dave Jones	Wide receiver	Kansas State
12	306	Dick Davis	Running back	Nebraska
13	332	Tommy Boutwell	Wide receiver	Southern Miss
14	358	Jiggy Smaha	Defensive tackle	Georgia
15	384	Joel Stevenson	Tight end	Georgia Tech
16	410	James Lowe	Flanker	Tuskegee
17	436	Bob Oliver	Defensive end	Abilene Christian

^[1]

Personnel

Staff/Coaches

1969 Cleveland Browns staff
	Front office Majority Owner/CEO & President - Art Modell Minority owner/vice president - Al Lerner General manager – Harold Sauerbrei Coaching Staff Head coach – Blanton Collier Offensive coaches Offensive coordinator – Nick Skorich Offensive line – Fritz Heisler Receivers - Bob Nussbaumer			Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator - Howard Brinker Defensive line – Dick Modzelewski Linebackers – Ed Ulinski Special teams Placekickers coach - Lou Groza Strength & Conditioning Athletic trainer - Leo Murphy Equipment manager - Morris Kono

^[2]

Roster

1969 Cleveland Browns roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 16 Bill Nelsen 17 Jerry Rhome Running backs (RB) 30 Ron Johnson 44 Leroy Kelly 25 Charlie Leigh 26 Reece Morrison 35 Bo Scott Wide receivers (WR) 86 Gary Collins 43 Fair Hooker 41 Dave Jones 42 Paul Warfield Tight ends (TE) 83 Chip Glass 89 Milt Morin

Offensive linemen (OL) 73 Monte Clark T 64 Jim Copeland G 65 John Demarie G 66 Gene Hickerson G 54 Fred Hoaglin C 55 Chuck Reynolds C/G 77 Dick Schafrath T 62 Joe Taffoni T Defensive linemen (DL) 81 Jack Gregory DE 71 Walter Johnson DT 69 Jim Kanicki DT 70 Joe Righetti DT 88 Ron Snidow DE 84 Marvin Upshaw DT/DE

Linebackers (LB) 52 Billy Andrews OLB 50 John Garlington OLB 82 Jim Houston OLB 51 Dale Lindsey MLB/OLB 56 Bob Matheson MLB 59 Wayne Meylan MLB/OLB Defensive backs (DB) 40 Erich Barnes CB 21 Dean Brown FS 34 Mike Howell FS 24 Ernie Kellermann SS 49 Alvin Mitchell CB 29 Walt Sumner CB Special teams (ST) 12 Don Cockroft K/P

Practice squad 53 Tom Beutler LB 11 Don Gault QB 60 Al Jenkins G/T 79 Bob Oliver DE 20 Freddie Summers S Reserve 28 Ben Davis CB (IR) 33 Tom Schoen S (Military) Rookies in italics

Preseason

On August 30, a crowd of 85,532 fans viewed a doubleheader at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium. In the first contest, the Chicago Bears (with All-Pro running back Gale Sayers) played the AFL's Buffalo Bills (with rookie running back O. J. Simpson), while the Cleveland Browns hosted the Green Bay Packers in the second match.^[3]

Exhibition schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	August 10	vs. San Francisco 49ers at Seattle	W 24–19	32,219
2	August 16	at Los Angeles Rams	W 10–3	54,937
3	August 23	at San Diego Chargers	T 19–19	36,005
4	August 30	Green Bay Packers	L 17–27	85,532
5	September 6	at Washington Redskins	W 20–10	45,994
6	September 13	vs. Minnesota Vikings at Akron	L 16–23	28,561

Regular season schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Attendance
1	September 21	at Philadelphia Eagles	W 27–20	1–0	60,658
2	September 28	Washington Redskins	W 27–23	2–0	82,581
3	October 5	Detroit Lions	L 21–28	2–1	82,933
4	October 12	at New Orleans Saints	W 27–17	3–1	71,274
5	October 18	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 42–31	4–1	84,078
6	October 26	St. Louis Cardinals	T 21–21	4–1–1	81,186
7	November 2	Dallas Cowboys	W 42–10	5–1–1	84,850
8	November 9	at Minnesota Vikings	L 3–51	5–2–1	47,700
9	November 16	at Pittsburgh Steelers	W 24–3	6–2–1	47,670
10	November 23	New York Giants	W 28–17	7–2–1	80,595
11	November 30	at Chicago Bears	W 28–24	8–2–1	45,050
12	December 7	Green Bay Packers	W 20–7	9–2–1	82,137
13	December 14	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 27–21	10–2–1	44,924
14	December 21	at New York Giants	L 14–27	10–3–1	62,966

Standings

NFL Century
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Cleveland Browns	10	3	1	.769	4–1–1	8–1–1	351	300	L1
New York Giants	6	8	0	.429	4–2	4–6	264	298	W3
St. Louis Cardinals	4	9	1	.308	3–2–1	3–6–1	314	389	L3
Pittsburgh Steelers	1	13	0	.071	0–6	0–10	218	404	L13

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Playoffs

See also: 1969 NFL playoffs

Round	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
Eastern Conference	December 27	at Dallas Cowboys	W 38–14	1–0	Cotton Bowl	69,321	Recap
NFL Championship	January 4, 1970	at Minnesota Vikings	L 7–27	1–1	Metropolitan Stadium	47,900	Recap