Browns and Steelers Thursday Night Football Showdown

Thursday Night Football kicks off Week 12 of the NFL season by writing the next chapter in one of the most storied rivalries in NFL history. The Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers have played one another 145 times, making this the oldest rivalry in the history of the AFC.

The 146th edition of this showdown will emanate from Cleveland, Ohio, and we’ve got you covered with the preview that you need and some more information about the history of this heated rivalry.

The History of the Browns and Steelers Rivalry

The Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers played one another for the first time in 1950. The two teams are only 130 miles from one another, which lends itself to a rivalry of this historical magnitude. Remember, in the earliest days of professional football, teams routinely only played other teams that they could travel to by bus.

Turnpike Rivalry

This rivalry, also commonly referred to as the Turnpike Rivalry, isn’t only about proximity, though. It also involves the age of the teams and the nature of both cities. While Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas might be more known for their factories and blue-collar workers, the Browns’ fan base is quite similar overall.

The two teams played against each other for the first time on October 7, 1950. The Browns had just joined the league after a dominating run in the All-American Football Conference. Cleveland picked up where it left off, appearing in six straight NFL Championship Games (not yet known as the Super Bowl), including three victories.

The Browns beat the Steelers by a score of 30-17 the first time that they played, and that would set the tone for the first 20 years of this rivalry. By the time the 1970s rolled around, the Browns led the all-time series 31-9.

Unfortunately for Browns fans, that was the last time that Cleveland would dominate the series. The Steelers were the dynasty of the league in the 1970s, and even when the Browns came back down to Earth in the 1980s, they continued to handle business against Cleveland.

Introducing the Baltimore Ravens

This rivalry did take a break in the late 1990s, though. In 1995, Art Modell, the owner of the Browns, announced that he would be relocating the team to Baltimore for the 1996 season. The relocation happened quickly, and the Baltimore Ravens were born.

Coincidently, the Ravens and Steelers have perhaps the most heated rivalry in all of pro football, even if it’s not the most historical. From 1996 through 1998, the Cleveland Browns ceased to exist.

The move was such a controversial one in Cleveland that Ohio lawmakers passed a new law, known as the Modell Law, that would prohibit professional teams that play in facilities supported by the taxpayers from relocating without the city’s permission. With the Browns out of commission for three seasons, many wondered if the 1995 season was the last time that we would get to see the Browns and Steelers compete.

That wasn’t to be, and Cleveland, Ohio was awarded an expansion franchise ahead of the 1999 season. The newly-formed Browns kept the same name and logo as the earlier version of the team, even though they were technically a new franchise. What didn’t change was the animosity that existed between the Browns and the Steelers.

The players and coaches had gone to Baltimore and changed logos, color schemes, and team names, but that didn’t matter. The Browns and Steelers still hated one another.

Division Rivals

Another reason for the longevity of this rivalry is the fact that the two squads have been part of the same division since the Browns joined the league in 1950. Between 1950 and 1969, they were both in the Eastern Conference.

In 1960, realignment and renaming led to the formation of the AFC Central which included both squads. That was the case until 2001 when realignment came again, and the AFC North was formed. The Browns and Steelers remained interlinked, and the rivalry continued.

When it comes to the all-time results, the Steelers have the advantage, as they’ve won 81 of the meetings while the Browns have 63 victories over Pittsburgh. One game ended in a tie. When it comes to the playoffs, the two teams aren’t quite as familiar, as they’ve only played each other three times in the postseason where the Steelers have a 2-1 all-time lead.

Previewing Thursday Night’s Game

The 2024 NFL season hasn’t gone the way the Browns had hoped. Before the 2022 season, the team made a move for a franchise QB in what could only be described as the latest attempt to fix the problem that has plagued the team since rejoining the league.

Deshaun Watson had put up stellar numbers in Houston, but due to off-field controversies and his desire to move on from the team, he was available. The Browns made history when they offered him a fully guaranteed contract for more than $230 million.

As a result of those off-the-field issues, Watson was suspended for the first 11 games of the 2022 season. When he did get onto the field, things didn’t go well as Watson ended the season with the worst passer rating in his career. He started the first nine games of the 2023 season before leaving a week-10 contest with the Ravens due to a shoulder injury. He would miss the rest of that season.

Watson continued to look like a shell of his former self during the 2024 campaign, which came to an end in Week 7 against the Bengals. The Browns’ season was already going terribly and the injury to Watson served as the final nail in the coffin of a team that comes into this Week 12 matchup at 2-8.

Jameis Winston took over for Watson, and while he played well in his first start, things have gone downhill since with many calling for the Browns to once again fire their coach (Kevin Stefanski), cut ties with their QB, and rebuild.

On the other side of the field, it’s hard to imagine a better season for Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh brought in not just one, but two reclamation projects at quarterback in the offseason after acquiring Justin Fields from the Chicago Bears and Russell Wilson from the Denver Broncos.

Fields had been the latest in a long line of Bears’ QBs who didn’t prove worthy to be the face of the franchise and Wilson was coming off the worst seasons of his storied career in Denver. An injury left Wilson on the bench to start the season, and most analysts and experts expected Fields and the Steelers to struggle. They did anything but.

Instead, the offense has looked good no matter who was under center, and Mike Tomlin has continued to prove why he is widely considered one of the best coaches in the league. Pittsburgh comes into Thursday night’s contest at 8-2 on the season and top of the AFC North on the heels of their victory over the Baltimore Ravens.

Pittsburgh rolls into Huntington Bank Field as 3.5-point favorites in this one, a surprisingly low spread that speaks to the veracity of Steelers-Browns games. You can catch all of the action on Amazon Prime Video beginning a 8 PM EST with pregame coverage starting an hour earlier.

Most experts agree that Pittsburgh has the upper hand in this contest. In addition to Russell Wilson and the offense hitting on all cylinders, the defense is playing great football behind TJ Watt. Still, AFC North games, especially those that are part of this bitter rivalry, are always hard to predict.

However, it’s just too unlikely that Jameis Winston and the struggling Browns offense can do enough to keep up with Russell Wilson, George Pickens, Najee Harris, and the rest of the Steelers’ offense. We’ll take the Steelers by a score of 30 to 17.