The 1994 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 45th season with the National Football League and 49th overall. It was the only season that the Browns qualified for the playoffs under head coach Bill Belichick. The Browns finished as the NFL's number one defense in terms of points surrendered per game (12.8 points per game). In the playoffs, Belichick got his first playoff victory as a head coach in the AFC wild card game against the New England Patriots (who would hire him less than a decade later) by a score of 20–13. The Browns would lose to the Steelers 29–9 in the divisional round.
The Browns would not return to the playoffs again until the 2002 season. This would be the last time the Browns would win a playoff game until the 2020 season.
Offseason Additions SubtractionsQB Mark Rypien (Redskins) LB Clay Matthews (Falcons)CB Don Griffin (49ers) LB Mike Johnson (Lions)
NFL draft
Undrafted free agents + 1994 undrafted free agents of notePlayerPositionCollegeDean LytleDefensive endNotre Dame
Personnel
Staff
Roster
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue TV Attendance 1 September 4 at Cincinnati Bengals W 28–20 1–0 Riverfront Stadium Tom Hammond, Cris Collinsworth 52,778 2 September 11 Pittsburgh Steelers L 10–17 1–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium Tom Hammond, Cris Collinsworth 77,774 3 September 18 Arizona Cardinals W 32–0 2–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium Kenny Albert, Ron Pitts 62,818 4 September 25 at Indianapolis Colts W 21–14 3–1 RCA Dome Jim Donovan, Beasley Reece 55,821 5 October 2 New York Jets W 27–7 4–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium Marv Albert, Paul Maguire, Mary Ann Grabavoy 76,188 6 Bye 7 October 13 at Houston Oilers W 11–8 5–1 Houston Astrodome Gary Bender, Pat Haden, Kevin Kiley 50,364 8 October 23 Cincinnati Bengals W 37–13 6–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium Don Criqui, Beasley Reece 77,588 9 October 30 at Denver Broncos L 14–26 6–2 Mile High Stadium Don Criqui, Beasley Reece, Jim Gray 73,190 10 November 6 New England Patriots W 13–6 7–2 Cleveland Municipal Stadium Tom Hammond, Cris Collinsworth 73,878 11 November 13 at Philadelphia Eagles W 26–7 8–2 Veterans Stadium Tom Hammond, Cris Collinsworth, Mary Ann Grabavoy 65,233 12 November 20 at Kansas City Chiefs L 13–20 8–3 Arrowhead Stadium Marv Albert, Paul Maguire 69,121 13 November 27 Houston Oilers W 34–10 9–3 Cleveland Municipal Stadium Jim Lampley, Todd Christensen 65,088 14 December 4 New York Giants L 13–16 9–4 Cleveland Municipal Stadium Kevin Harlan, Jerry Glanville 72,068 15 December 10 at Dallas Cowboys W 19–14 10–4 Texas Stadium Dick Enberg, Bob Trumpy, Hannah Storm 64,826 16 December 18 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 7–17 10–5 Three Rivers Stadium Charlie Jones, Randy Cross, Jim Gray 60,808 17 December 24 Seattle Seahawks W 35–9 11–5 Cleveland Municipal Stadium Dan Hicks, Cris Collinsworth 54,180 Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Standings
Game summaries Week One @ Cincinnati Both Vinny Testaverde and falling third-year Bengal David Klingler were picked off twice. Testaverde got the better of the first round of 1994's Battle Of Ohio as he raced the Browns to a 28–13 lead, enough to absorb a Klingler touchdown in the fourth to Darnay Scott. The Browns won 28–20.
Week Two vs. Pittsburgh The Steelers ended a four-game road losing streak to the Browns as they erased a 10–0 Browns lead with 17 unanswered points. Vinny Testaverde was picked off four times in the 17–10 loss.
Week 3: vs. Arizona
The Browns hosted Buddy Ryan, now coach of the Cardinals after his tumultuous stay with the Oilers. Ryan had to bear witness as Vinny Testaverde tossed two touchdowns and ran in a third while Jay Schroeder and Jim McMahon combined for just 26 of 58 passes with three interceptions in a 32–0 Browns shutout win.
Week Four @ Indianapolis In a 21–14 Browns win, Testaverde threw three more touchdowns as the game lead tied or changed on every score. Testaverde's scores offset scores by Marshall Faulk and Jim Harbaugh, both destined to be important rivals of Browns coach Bill Belichick in the future.
Week Five vs. New York Jets Eight years after their infamous playoff meeting, the Jets and Browns renewed acquaintances and the Browns raced to a 27–0 lead before Jack Trudeau, subbing for regular starter Boomer Esiason, found the endzone from 24 yards out. Trudeau was picked off twice as well in the 27–7 Browns win. The game was the first meeting as head coaches of Jets coach Pete Carroll and Browns coach Bill Belichick.
Week Six – BYE WEEK Week Seven @ Houston On a rare Thursday Night NFL game, the collapse of the Oilers following their 1993 season continued as the Browns clawed out a Vinny Testaverde touchdown, a two-point conversion, and a field goal in the second quarter, offsetting a fourth-quarter score from Billy Joe Tolliver. The 11–8 loss put the Oilers at 1–5 with the Browns now 5–1.
Week Eight vs. Cincinnati The winless Bengals clawed to a 13–10 halftime lead, then the Browns exploded to 27 unanswered points en route to a 37–13 rout; one touchdown came off a goalline fumble by the Bengals. Former Redskins hero Mark Rypien came in late and completed three of eleven passes.
Week Nine @ Denver The Browns remained haunted by the ghost of their two bitter playoff failures to John Elway as Elway led a Broncos offense putting up 457 yards of offense and 26 points to offset two Matt Stover field goals and a touchdown from Mark Rypien. The 26–14 Broncos win was only the third of their season.
Week 10 vs. New England Bill Belichick faced his former boss Bill Parcells and got the better of Parcells and second-year quarterback Drew Bledsoe, intercepting him four times as Mark Rypien tossed a one-yard score to Leroy Hoard. The 13–6 outcome put the Browns at 7–2 while the Patriots fell to 3–6 awaiting the Vikings.
Week 11 @ Philadelphia The 7–2 Eagles were crushed 26–7 as Randall Cunningham was picked off once and held to just 242 yards of offense; the loss began a season-ending spiral for the Eagles and coach Rich Kotite.
Week 12 @ Kansas City Joe Montana managed only 169 passing yards but still got the better of the Browns 20–13 as three different passers for the Browns managed only 152 yards and a pick.
Week 13 vs. Houston The Browns completed a season sweep of the Oilers – now under new coach Jeff Fisher – 34–10, limiting the Oilers to 182 yards of offense.
Week 14 vs. New York Giants Facing his former team, Bill Belichick saw the Giants unable to reach 300 yards of offense yet still win 16–13, picking off Vinny Testaverde twice while sacking him four times. The game was a penalty-laden affair with 21 combined fouls for 162 yards.
Week 15 @ Dallas Once again Testaverde couldn't deliver much yardage – just 118 passing yards with one touchdown and one interception – but he did produce enough for a 19–14 win over the defending Super Bowl champions. The Browns picked off Troy Aikman twice while forcing two fumbles. Matt Stover's four field goals were sufficient for the win.
Week 16 @ Pittsburgh The measuring stick for the Browns has always been the Steelers and once again the Browns came up short, this time 17–7. Testaverde had one touchdown and two picks while Barry Foster rushed for 106 yards and Neil O'Donnell had 175 passing yards and a touchdown. The win locked up the AFC Central for the Steelers, but the Browns nonetheless were also in the playoffs.
Week 17 vs. Seattle Vinny Testaverde scored three times, once on the ground, as five different Cleveland backs combined for over 100 rushing yards and two additional scores in a 35–7 rout of the Seahawks. With vaunted 1993 rookie Rick Mirer faltering, two different Seahawks quarterbacks combined for 229 yards and a pick.
Postseason
Round Date Opponent (seed) Result Record Venue Attendance Recap Wild Card January 1, 1995 New England Patriots (5) W 20–13 1–0 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 77,452 Recap Divisional January 7, 1995 at Pittsburgh Steelers (1) L 9–29 1–1 Three Rivers Stadium 58,185 Recap
AFC Wild Card game
The Browns intercepted three passes from New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe and halted an attempted comeback in the final minutes of the game to clinch the victory.
Aided by quarterback Vinny Testaverde's completions to receivers Michael Jackson and Derrick Alexander for gains of 27 and 23 yards, Cleveland moved the ball 74 yards in eight plays on their opening drive and scored on Matt Stover's 30-yard field goal. They got another chance to score when Louis Riddick returned an interception 16 yards to the Patriots 33, but they could only gain one yard on their next three plays and decided to punt.
In the second quarter, New England took a 7–3 lead on a 60-yard drive that ended with Bledsoe's 13-yard touchdown pass to running back Leroy Thompson. However, Cleveland tight end Brian Kinchen returned the kickoff 24 yards to Brown's 49-yard line and the team quickly drove 51 yards to retake the lead at 10–7, with Testaverde rushing twice for 14 yards and completing two passes for 29 total yards to Jackson on the way to throwing a 5-yard scoring pass to Mark Carrier. New England responded by driving 71 yards in 17 plays to score on a 23-yard field goal by Matt Bahr, tying the game at 10 going into halftime. The key play of the drive was a fake punt on fourth and 10 on the Browns 43, in which punter Pat O'Neill completed a 21-yard pass to Corwin Brown.
Cleveland started the third quarter with a drive to the Pats 17-yard line but lost the ball on an Eric Metcalf fumble that was recovered by Patriots defensive end Mike Pitts, the Browns' only turnover of the game. After forcing a punt, Cleveland drove 79 yards in nine plays. Testeverde completed a 25-yard pass to fullback Leroy Hoard and a 14-yarder to Jackson, while Hoard eventually finished the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run to put the Browns back in front at 17–10.
New England had some success moving the ball on their next two drives, but both ended with Bledsoe interceptions. On the second one, Eric Turner picked off a pass from Bledsoe and returned the ball 28 yards to the New England 36 with seven minutes left in the game. From there, Cleveland managed to run the clock down to 3:36 before Stover's 21-yard field goal gave them a two-score lead at 20–10. However, New England put together a 63-yard drive to score on Bahr's 33-yard field goal with 1:33 remaining. New England then recovered the ensuing onside kick, but after gaining a first down, Bledsoe threw four straight incompletions and the ball was turned back to Cleveland on downs.
Testaverde finished the game 20/30 for 268 yards and a touchdown. His top target was Jackson, who caught seven passes for 122 yards. This was the last postseason win for the Cleveland Browns until the 2020 season.
This was the first postseason meeting between the Patriots and Browns.
AFC Divisional Game
Pittsburgh had defeated Cleveland twice during the season and proved to be more than capable of doing so again. Aided by running back Barry Foster's 133 rushing yards, the Steelers controlled the game by scoring on their first three possessions and holding the ball for 42:27. The Steelers finished the game with 424 yards of offense, including 238 yards on the ground, while holding the Browns to a mere 186 total yards.
On Pittsburgh's opening drive, they moved the ball 65 yards in 13 plays to score on Gary Anderson's 39-yard field goal. Cleveland had to punt on their next drive, and Tom Tupa's kick went just 26 yards to the Steelers' 47-yard line. Pittsburgh then went 53 yards in eight plays, including a 21-yard completion from Neil O'Donnell to Ernie Mills, to go up 10–0 on O'Donnell's 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Eric Green. On the Steelers' next possession, Foster rushed three times for 40 yards as the team drove 74 yards to score on John L. Williams' 26-yard touchdown burst with 9:03 left in the second quarter.