Should Browns AAFC Championships count?

Not count

Those Browns championships count, but the AAFC ones should be in a separate category, sort of like Roger Maris's home runs with an asterisk.

in which it was in. You don't know if those teams would have beaten the NFL teams or not.

However, given the NFL seems to focus 99% on the Super Bowl era championships, does it really matter?

Try finding Giants gear showing 8 championships?
Bears gear with 9.

They should count. Who are you to say they shouldn't?

After winning AAFC in 46, 47, 48, and 49 they joined the NFL and promptly won the NFL title in 1950 and in 3 of their first 6 years in the NFL.

The greatest dynasty in pro football history was the Cleveland Browns from 1946-1957...there are 10 Pro Football Hall of Famers that played most or some of their careers for the Browns during those years and not only did they get 9 Titles during that time but they also amassed a record of 105-17-4.

1946-55 (not 57).

7-8 team League, of which 4 or 5 were consistent doormats. The Browns and 49ers, along with the NY Yankees to a lesser extent (coached by NYG legend Ray Flaherty), were the only serious contenders.

You "count" it because it happened, but you acknowledge that they weren't facing the level of competition that a team in the NFL at the time would have.

(Still, they should have joined the NFL 2 years earlier-- they would've had a good shot of preventing 2 of the Eagles' 3 titles.)

Not to pick a fight...just discussing...but I think it is inconsistent to be dismissive of their AAFC titles but then state that had they come to the NFL sooner they may have knocked of the league champs.

The fact is the Browns won the NFL title in their first year in the NFL. That 10 year run they had was the greatest in professional football history.

Quote:

That 10 year run they had was the greatest in professional football history.

I think the hang up people have is that it just isn't the most impressive. It might be the greatest but it isn't nearly as impressive as what the Patriots have done the last 15 years imo.

In comment 13006879 Maryland Giant said:

Quote:

Not to pick a fight...just discussing...but I think it is inconsistent to be dismissive of their AAFC titles but then state that had they come to the NFL sooner they may have knocked of the league champs.

They may have. We don't know. We know that the 1950 Browns were capable of taking down the NFL's best. All we know about the '46-'49 Browns is that they could beat the collection of teams that the AAFC offered. The 49ers were nearly as dominant as Cleveland was in the AAFC, and they were the other AAFC team that moved over to the NFL. They went 3-9 in the NFL in 1950. Beating the likes of the Los Angeles Dons and Chicago Hornets was not much of an achievement.

just like I'd count AFL championships for those franchises.

Also, I wish I could find some gear that shows the Giants as 8-time champions instead of just the 4 Super Bowls, but no luck thus far.

because the question really is "how many NFL championships have you won".
How many passing yards does Eli have ?
"Counting college?"

Good point. I wasn't focusing on the OP and was instead advocating for the legitimacy and greatness of the Browns Dynasty. However, you are correct...the answer to the OPs question is that the Browns have 4 NFL titles.

The Pro football Hall of Fame honors all the AAFC Championships, as well as individual player statistics and records, even though the NFL chooses to ignore them.

proves anything, but when they came over to the NFL they dominated for the first five years as much, if not more, as they had in the AAFC..

No, because then you have to count the Eagles' "championships" from the pre-Super Bowl era.

to be honest AAFC, AFL, pre merger titles should be honored but not fully recognized if you can understand

AAFC titles, AFL titles but they are NOT NFL titles.

Do they count as championships? Sure. Do they count as NFL championships? Of course not...

Does the NHL "count" WHA championships in team championship totals? No
Does the NBA "count" ABA championships? No

Its all about NFL Championships. The Packers have 13 (the Bears have 9; we have 8). Everyone's chasing Green Bay is the way I see it....

Never understood the short sightedness of today s fan thAt wants to dismiss other eras. NBA perfect example. We hear so often of Jordan s and Kobie s 6 titles. Almost never mentioned anymore is Bill Russell's 11 in 13 years arguably the greatest dynasty ever.

The Browns of that era were the best team I football period. Russell's legacy is the greatest ever and it s not close.

You dominate your era that s what you get judged on.

In the 1928 Stanley Cup Finals, 44 year-old head coach Lester Patrick inserted himself in as goaltender after the starting goalie got hurt and WON. Any fan who "counts" those championships, much like this AAFC thing, is a squid.

how the alternate supposedly inferior leagues were in reality much better.
I retrospect the new leagues were more innovative and open to new strategies. Paul Brown's Browns were playing a better brand of football and more fully utilized the potential of the T quarterback. Yes, they had great talent with Marion Motely, Lou Groza, Dub Jones (the father of Bert Jones the talented Colts QB of a decade or so ago), Dante Llavelli and some other greats, but it was the concepts of Paul Brown that really set them apart and led to their dominance of the NFL. And I think that in that first title game they toyed with the Eagles and won something like 35 to 10.
I saw the first superbowl and watched with satisfaction Lombardi's team beat Hank Stram's. Fact is, the AFL was ahead of the NFL and they used an odd man front and put Buck Buchanan over the head of Jimmy Ringo and were playing the bump and run. That started to show in SB III when Namath's Jets, who were barely the best of the AFC, beat on Unita /Earl Morrell/Bubba Smith and the almost undefeated Colts of Balt.
Over the next superbowls the motif was repeated as the barely best of the AFC (K.C and Oakland) totally dominated The clearly best Vikings of the NFC in a mismatch.
It was obcious watching the huge Art Shell line up over the 220 lb. DE Marshall. I bet a friend in one superbowl that Oakland would run left on third and longs and that they'd make it.
The NFL made the bump and run illegal shortly afterwards.

They won their league. But, the NFL does not, and should not, count them as NFL champions and when talking about NFL championships won by a franchise, these should not be considered. Then again, how often do you hear about any championships prior to the Super Bowl era these days?