January 5, 2003: Browns lose to Steelers in our Last Playoff Appearance

It is Super Bowl Sunday! The Saints and the Colts, the League's two best Teams in the regular season, square off for the Vince Lombardi Trophy. It should be a close and exciting game with a lot of scoring.

Days like this one always make us remember the last playoff appearance for our beloved Brownies. Oh...what could have been. It was January 5, 2003: a weekend that many have dubbed the most exciting one in NFL playoff history. Cleveland Browns' quarterback Kelly Holcomb threw for an unbelievable 429 yards and three touchdowns. The Browns were beating our arch rivals, Pittsburgh Steelers, by 17 points in this historic wild card game. But Tommy Maddox led the Steelers on a comeback for the ages. The Steelers scored 29 points in the second half to beat the Browns 36-33. The game ended on a typical sour note for the Browns. We were easily within field goal range to tie the football game after another completed pass by Kelly to Pittsburgh's 29-yard line. But time expired, and with it the dreams of the orange and brown faithful.

Oh...what could have been. The Steelers lost in overtime the following week to the Tenessee Titans. The Titans, in turn, were beat soundly in the AFC Championship Game by the Oakland Raiders. The Raiders lost to the Tampa Bay Bucs in the Super Bowl.

Any Browns fan who watched the season closely in 2002 knows that the Browns could have went all the way if they had beaten the Steelers in that game on January 5. Our offense was potent. Our defense could hold its own. The coaching under Butch Davis was at least passionate. We would have matched up very well against the Titans and the Raiders. But it was not meant to be.

Now that the New Orleans Saints have made it to the big show, the Browns and Detroit Lions stand alone in the NFL as the two Teams who have been around for a while and have never appeared in a Super Bowl (we do not count squads like the Houston Texans or the Jacksonville Jaguars because they are too young).

There is always hope. Mike Holmgren wants to change that. He has the tenacity to make it happen. We will be there when it does!

Go Browns!

Enjoy the game today!

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Devo's Cleveland Browns
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