Browns on Otto Pilot in Winning Championship

The greatest quarterback in NFL history? A case could be made on behalf of Otto Everett Graham Jr. Why? Because Otto Graham won.

The onetime Northwestern tailback/basketball star took his team, the Cleveland Browns, to at least a divisional championship in each of his 10 professional seasons, 1946-55. His Browns won four consecutive All-America Football Conference championships and three NFL championships.

And 49 years ago today, he won his first NFL title as the Browns defeated the Los Angeles Rams, 30-28, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium, before 29,751.

During their 52-4-3 run through the AAFC, before its merger with the NFL, the Browns maintained they were the best in the pro game. NFL followers sneered, saying “Let’s see how they do in the big leagues.”

Nothing changed. The Browns really were best.

On a 27-degree day in Cleveland (there were snow flurries), with 28 seconds remaining in the game, Lou Groza kicked the field goal that gave the Browns the victory. The Rams’ Jerry Williams nearly returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, being tripped up by the last defender at the Ram 49.

“That was the greatest football game I’ve ever seen,” crowed NFL Commissioner Bert Bell.

Few would argue that point, or that Graham, in his fifth championship performance, had been brilliant. He threw four touchdown passes, and had a huge 18-yard run on a third-and-long play on the drive that ended with Groza’s winning field goal. He was the game’s leading rusher, with 99 yards.

The winning players’ shares: $1,113.16.

Also on this date: In 1961 George Blanda’s 35-yard touchdown pass to Billy Cannon gave the Houston Oilers a 10-3 victory over the San Diego Chargers for their second AFL title.