Cleveland Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers NFL Preview and Odds
The fans at Heinz Field will be in a position they are not too familiar with on Sunday. They will be watching a game in December knowing that it will be the last one for the season. The Steelers were eliminated from the playoffs last week when Josh Brown kicked the game winner for the Cincinnati Bengals to clinch the second AFC Wild Card spot, thus rendering this week's season finale against the Cleveland Browns no longer meaningful.
History
Okay, that isn't exactly true. No game between the Browns and Steelers is meaningless. The Browns consider the Steelers their biggest game, even more so than the Baltimore Ravens. This is surprising to many considering the Ravens were taken out of Cleveland after decades of being known as the Browns. But since Cleveland was allowed to keep all logos, names and records of the old Browns, the hard feelings have subsided a bit towards the Ravens. Pittsburgh is indeed the team the Browns most want to beat. The feeling might ne mutual with many Steelers fans, although most would prefer to beat the Ravens. But the Browns would run a close second.
The Browns and Steelers have met 120 times. Pittsburgh leads the series 63-57. Most would likely be surprised that the Steelers don't have a bigger lead in the series, but even though the Steelers have been a dominant team for the last four decades while the Browns have been awful, that shoe was on the other foot for the 40 years prior.
Both of these teams were part of the NFL prior to the AFL coming into existence. Both were sent to the AFC after the AFL joined the NFL in 1970 along with the Baltimore Colts. The Colts were sent to the AFC East while the Browns and Steelers were sent to the AFC Central. The two cities are only 135 miles apart, which means many of the people in the region, interact with fans of the other team on a regular basis. A win in this game can make the off-season very much more pleasant.
If the Browns win, it would give them a sweep this year and that could make things especially miserable for the Steelers fans, already upset over a rare playoff miss.
The two teams have won 10 NFL titles between them. Cleveland has won four, the Steelers six. The Browns last championship was in 1964. All of Pittsburgh's six championships have come after the Browns last. The two teams have met twice in post=season play, both times the Steelers won. In 2003, the Steelers won a playoff game with the Browns 36-33. This is the current incarnation of the Cleveland Browns.
The Browns cannot catch the Steelers in the standings. They come into the game 5-10 while the Steelers are 7-8. But to beat the Steelers twice and put a losing record on them would feel like they have bragging rights over them. The Steelers definitely want to avoid a losing record. 8-8 is bad enough in Steeler Country. 7-9 would be unheard of.
