The 1954 Cleveland Browns season was the team's fifth season with the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. The Browns' defense became the first defense in the history of the NFL to lead the league in fewest rushing yards allowed, fewest passing yards allowed, and fewest total yards allowed. The Browns were 9–3 in the regular season and won the Eastern Conference. They hosted the

NFL Championship Game Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national c ...

, and met the two-time defending champion

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

for the third straight year. This year's result was different, as the Browns won with a 56–10 blowout. The teams had met on the same field the previous week, in a meaningless game won 14–10 by the Lions. Both teams had already clinched their respective conference titles; it was postponed from early October due to the

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

. After the win, Detroit was a slight favorite for the title game.

Offseason

Defensive Back Don Paul arrived via a trade with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

, who acquired him from the

Chicago Cardinals The professional American football team now known as the Arizona Cardinals previously played in Chicago, Illinois, as the Chicago Cardinals from 1898 to 1959 before relocating to St. Louis, Missouri, for the 1960 through 1987 seasons. Roots ca ...

. Upon his arrival in Washington, he fell in disfavor with

George Preston Marshall George Preston Marshall (October 11, 1896 – August 9, 1969) was an American businessman best known for founding the Washington Commanders, an American football franchise belonging to the National Football League (NFL). He founded the team as ...

of the Redskins.The Best Show in Football:The 1946–1955 Cleveland Browns, p.308, Andy Piascik, Taylor Trade Publishing, 2007, In January 1954, assistant coach

Weeb Ewbank Wilbur Charles "Weeb" Ewbank (May 6, 1907 – November 17, 1998) was an American professional football coach. He led the Baltimore Colts to consecutive NFL championships in 1958 and 1959 and the New York Jets to victory in Super Bowl III in Janu ...

departed to become head coach of the

Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...

.The Best Show in Football:The 1946–1955 Cleveland Browns, p.310, Andy Piascik, Taylor Trade Publishing, 2007,

NFL Draft

The

1954 NFL Draft The 1954 National Football League Draft was held on January 28, 1954, at The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. This was the eighth year that the first overall pick was a bonus pick determined by lottery. With the previous seven winners i ...

was one of the biggest busts in the team's history. With the first overall pick in the draft, the Browns selected quarterback

Bobby Garrett Robert Driscoll Garrett (August 16, 1932 – 5 December 1987) was an American football quarterback who played for Stanford University and played one season in the National Football League. He is a member of the Stanford Athletics Hall of Fame. ...

out of

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. The plan was that he would be the heir to

Otto Graham Otto Everett Graham Jr. (December 6, 1921 – December 17, 2003) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Graha ...

. Garrett suffered from a stuttering problem which hindered his performance in the huddle. Eventually, Garrett was traded to the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

in exchange for

Babe Parilli Vito "Babe" Parilli (May 7, 1930 – July 15, 2017) was an American football quarterback and coach who played professionally for 18 seasons. Parilli spent five seasons in the National Football League (NFL), three in the Canadian Football League ( ...

, although Parilli would not play for the Browns until

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

. Later in the first round, the club selected John Bauer, who never played for the Browns and only played in two NFL games in his career.

Roster

Exhibition schedule

Regular season

Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

NFL Championship Game

References

External links

1954 Cleveland Browns
at Pro Football Reference (profootballreference.com)
1954 Cleveland Browns Statistics
at jt-sw.com
1954 Cleveland Browns Schedule
at jt-sw.com

at DatabaseFootball.com

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Cleveland Browns seasons National Football League championship seasons

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

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