1970 Cleveland Browns season
| 1970 Cleveland Browns season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Blanton Collier |
| Owner | Art Modell |
| Home field | Cleveland Stadium |
| Results | |
| Record | 7–7–0 |
| Division place | 2nd AFC Central |
| Playoff finish | did not qualify |
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| Scoring summary | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIN | Horst Muhlmann 50 yard field goal | Bengals 3–0 | |
| 1 | CIN | Jess Phillips 2 yard run (Horst Muhlmann kick) | Bengals 10–0 | |
| 1 | CLE | Safety, Virgil Carter tackled by Walter Johnson in end zone | Bengals 10–2 | |
| 2 | CLE | Leroy Kelly 3 yard pass from Bill Nelsen (Don Cockroft kick) | Bengals 10–9 | |
| 2 | CIN | Royce Berry 58 yard fumble return (Horst Muhlmann kick) | Bengals 17–9 | |
| 2 | CLE | Milt Morin 4 yard pass from Bill Nelsen (Don Cockroft kick) | Bengals 17–16 | |
| 3 | CIN | Horst Muhlmann 27 yard field goal | Bengals 20–16 | |
| 4 | CLE | Leroy Kelly 1 yard run (Don Cockroft kick) | Browns 23–20 | |
| 4 | CLE | Bo Scott 1 yard run (Don Cockroft kick) | Browns 30–20 | |
| 4 | CIN | Speedy Thomas 16 yard pass from Virgil Carter (Horst Muhlmann kick) | Browns 30–27 | |
The 1970 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 21st season with the National Football League.
The merger between the NFL and AFL was complete, with the leagues now playing each other in the regular season for the first time. This was the last step in a four-year process that began in January 1967 with the champions from both leagues playing in Super Bowl I.
To finish the merger, the Browns, along with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Colts, agreed to move in 1970 from the NFL to the old AFL, renamed the AFC, to balance the leagues, now called conferences (NFC and AFC), at 13 clubs each. The merger had hit a stalemate when none of the NFL teams initially wanted to jump to what many of the old-line NFL people felt was an inferior league overall.
Concerning just the Browns themselves, there was the situation involving Blanton Collier. Although no one except maybe the man himself knew it at the start of the season, this was going to be the last year for the venerable head coach. Plagued by hearing problems, the 64-year-old coach announced his retirement before the end of the 1970 season, which the Browns finished with a 7–7 record. Collier told owner Art Modell that he could no longer hear his players, and it was difficult to read their lips through new face masks that obscured their mouths. Modell tried to help by getting Collier to try new hearing aids and even sent him for acupuncture treatment, but none of it worked. Collier struggled during press conferences because he often could not hear what reporters were asking and answered the wrong questions. In eight years as coach, Collier led Cleveland to a championship and a 76–34–2 record.Nick Skorich, who came to the Browns as offensive coordinator in 1964, was named as his replacement in 1971. Collier had been on the job since 1963 and guided the Browns to the NFL championship a year later.
Realizing quarterback Bill Nelsen's aching knees were on borrowed time, the Browns had made a blockbuster trade with the Miami Dolphins on the eve of the 1970 NFL Draft to get the rights to select the man they felt would be their passer of the future, Mike Phipps. But it came at a steep price, for they had to give up Pro Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Paul Warfield in the process. That loss, coupled with Nelsen's physical condition and the unfamiliarity with the personnel on the former AFL clubs they were playing for the first time, took the starch out of what had been a good offense going all the way back to 1963. The result was the Browns scored 65 less points than they had the year before, and 108 less than two seasons before.
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