A First: Browns-Bengals Showdown Will Probably Be for Division Title

The 17-year history of the intrastate football rivalry between the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals has been characterized by generally low-stakes battles for bragging rights.

That history will take a pronounced turn today.

For the first time, the teams are going head-to-head late in the season to decide which one wins the AFC Central Division title. The escalated stakes have heightened expectations at both ends of the state.

“I think the importance of this game makes the rivalry a little more intense,” said Browns’ tight end Ozzie Newsome, a nine-year veteran. “I think this game has more intensity, more importance on it than probably only three or four other games I’ve played since I’ve been here.”

The Browns (10-4) would clinch their second consecutive division title by winning today in Riverfront Stadium, where they’ve dropped their last four games.

The Bengals (9-5) would take the inside track on the title with a victory. Cincinnati won in Cleveland, 30-13, earlier this season, and another victory today would give them the head-to-head advantage should they end the season tied with the Browns.

This will be perhaps the most eagerly awaited game between the teams since their first meeting in 1970. That’s when Paul Brown took the Bengals team he formed to Cleveland, where he rose to prominence as the Browns’ coach from 1946-62.

Brown retired from coaching the Bengals after the 1975 season and now serves as general manager. His former association with Cleveland was highlighted early in the intrastate rivalry; now it’s reduced to a footnote.

“The fact that Paul had an association with the Cleveland Browns, helped build the Cleveland Browns to what they are today and what they have been in the past, is a known fact,” Bengals Coach Sam Wyche said. “I don’t know that that is going to be needed (as motivation). “We’re going to be about as ready to go as we can get without that.”

The Bengals are going into the 33rd meeting of the clubs in high gear offensively.

Cincinnati rolled up a club record 584 yards in a 31-7 victory last Sunday over the New England Patriots. The Bengals have more than 400 net yards in each of their last five games, and are the top-ranked offense in the NFL.

The Bengals are blending their offense well behind running back James Brooks and quarterback Boomer Esiason. Brooks rushed for a club-record 163 yards against New England and needs 35 yards to reach 1,-000 for the season. Esiason, in his third season, has passed for 3,383 yards, the fourth-highest total in the NFL.

Second-year Cleveland quarterback Bernie Kosar leads a ball-control passing attack that is ranked ninth-best in the NFL. Kosar has passed for more than 400 yards twice in his last five games, totaling 3,350 for the season.

“If you were to assess the two quarterbacks, Boomer and Bernie are probably playing as well or better than any two quarterbacks in the National Football League right now,” Newsome said.

Both teams were struggling when the Bengals ground out their 30-13 victory in Cleveland on a Thursday night early this season. Wyche sees their rematch as a measure of which one has made the most improvement.

“There’s no question about it: They’re a better team today than they were on that Thursday night. We’re a better team as well,” Wyche said. “And that’s the way this thing ought to end up.

“This is, I really believe, one of those classic games. It has a little something extra to it, not so much because of some way somebody feels about another person, but because of the way this season has developed and the way the two teams have developed. Now they get to find out who’s come the farthest.”