Post by TheShadow on Jul 14, 2009 18:21:48 GMT -5
www.usatoday.com
By Skip Wood, USA TODAY
Third in a series exploring the histories of all 10 AFL franchises as the NFL celebrates the league's 50th anniversary.
The Cincinnati Bengals were members of the American Football League, the one that fought the mighty National Football League and actually won.
Thing is, though, the Bengals' first caretaker was an NFL legend.
He was instant credibility.
He was Paul Brown, the man who, as coach of the storied Cleveland Browns, helped lift the NFL to heights still being enjoyed today.
So he will not go down in history as an "AFL guy" or league pioneer.
Yet he was … to some degree.
The Bengals began play in 1968 as the AFL's 10th and final franchise, and even that was something of a wink-wink proposition, according to Mike Brown, son of Paul and the current owner of the Bengals.
"My father did think of himself as an NFL guy," Mike Brown says, "but keep in mind, he came out of the old All-America Football Conference with the Browns and the 49ers and the Colts, and that merger (with the NFL) took place in 1950, so it wasn't as though he was unfamiliar with new leagues and being part of a new league. … Besides that, when we got the Bengals franchise, the merger had been agreed to (in 1966), although it hadn't been defined."
In other words, Paul Brown's foray into the AFL was a calculated path into the NFL.
Or rather, back into the NFL.
Understand, Paul Brown — who led the Browns to seven titles beginning with their AAFC inception in 1946 and entered the Hall of Fame in 1967 — remains an NFL icon and innovator. Face masks on helmets, racial integration, innovative plays — you name it, he did it.
Said former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle in 1991: "His wealth of ideas changed the game."
The Bengals finished 3-11 and 4-9-1 in their two AFL seasons, led by linebacker Bill Bergey, halfback Paul Robinson, tight end Bob Trumpy — all all-star caliber players — and quarterbacks Greg Cook and Sam Wyche, who later coached the team to a Super Bowl XXIII berth after the 1988 season.
And the Bengals had Paul Brown as their coach. In their tiny AFL corner, they had establishment, or in today's vernacular, "street cred."
And then, in their third season — when the AFL and NFL had officially merged and the Browns joined the Bengals in the newly formed AFC Central (now AFC North) — they played the Browns.
Paul Brown's Browns pitted against Paul Brown's Bengals.
The Browns won the first meeting 30-27 at home. But the Bengals took the rematch in Cincinnati 14-10, part of a season-ending seven-game win streak that propelled them to an 8-6 record in 1970, winners of the first AFC Central crown.
"For us, that was a very keen rivalry," Mike Brown says of facing Cleveland. "Nobody said anything, but everybody understood that game was a little bit like the Army-Navy game. That's the one that mattered; the others were important, but this one was more important.
"And it was; it was. Throughout my father's time here, especially when he was a coach here … those games were meaningful, special games, and we took them very seriously."
By Skip Wood, USA TODAY
Third in a series exploring the histories of all 10 AFL franchises as the NFL celebrates the league's 50th anniversary.
The Cincinnati Bengals were members of the American Football League, the one that fought the mighty National Football League and actually won.
Thing is, though, the Bengals' first caretaker was an NFL legend.
He was instant credibility.
He was Paul Brown, the man who, as coach of the storied Cleveland Browns, helped lift the NFL to heights still being enjoyed today.
So he will not go down in history as an "AFL guy" or league pioneer.
Yet he was … to some degree.
The Bengals began play in 1968 as the AFL's 10th and final franchise, and even that was something of a wink-wink proposition, according to Mike Brown, son of Paul and the current owner of the Bengals.
"My father did think of himself as an NFL guy," Mike Brown says, "but keep in mind, he came out of the old All-America Football Conference with the Browns and the 49ers and the Colts, and that merger (with the NFL) took place in 1950, so it wasn't as though he was unfamiliar with new leagues and being part of a new league. … Besides that, when we got the Bengals franchise, the merger had been agreed to (in 1966), although it hadn't been defined."
In other words, Paul Brown's foray into the AFL was a calculated path into the NFL.
Or rather, back into the NFL.
Understand, Paul Brown — who led the Browns to seven titles beginning with their AAFC inception in 1946 and entered the Hall of Fame in 1967 — remains an NFL icon and innovator. Face masks on helmets, racial integration, innovative plays — you name it, he did it.
Said former NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle in 1991: "His wealth of ideas changed the game."
The Bengals finished 3-11 and 4-9-1 in their two AFL seasons, led by linebacker Bill Bergey, halfback Paul Robinson, tight end Bob Trumpy — all all-star caliber players — and quarterbacks Greg Cook and Sam Wyche, who later coached the team to a Super Bowl XXIII berth after the 1988 season.
And the Bengals had Paul Brown as their coach. In their tiny AFL corner, they had establishment, or in today's vernacular, "street cred."
And then, in their third season — when the AFL and NFL had officially merged and the Browns joined the Bengals in the newly formed AFC Central (now AFC North) — they played the Browns.
Paul Brown's Browns pitted against Paul Brown's Bengals.
The Browns won the first meeting 30-27 at home. But the Bengals took the rematch in Cincinnati 14-10, part of a season-ending seven-game win streak that propelled them to an 8-6 record in 1970, winners of the first AFC Central crown.
"For us, that was a very keen rivalry," Mike Brown says of facing Cleveland. "Nobody said anything, but everybody understood that game was a little bit like the Army-Navy game. That's the one that mattered; the others were important, but this one was more important.
"And it was; it was. Throughout my father's time here, especially when he was a coach here … those games were meaningful, special games, and we took them very seriously."