The 1988 Cleveland Browns season was the team's 39th season with the National Football League.
Despite taking the Browns to the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year, head coach Marty Schottenheimer resigned at the end of the 1988 season. He left the Browns having compiled a record of 44–27 (a 62% winning percentage) with the team. (Schottenheimer would later go through a similar scenario with the San Diego Chargers: they fired him after the 2006 season, during which the Chargers posted a 14–2 record and then lost their first playoff game.) The Browns finished the season with a 10–6 record, tied for second place in the AFC Central with the Houston Oilers. The Browns were awarded second place by posting a better division record than the Oilers. The Browns clinched a playoff berth for the 4th straight season. In the playoffs, they lost to the Oilers in the Wild Card game, 24–23. As of 2023, this remains the last time the Browns swept the Steelers.
Offseason
NFL draft
Personnel
Staff
Roster
Regular season
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Recap 1 September 4 at Kansas City Chiefs W 6–3 1–0 Arrowhead Stadium 55,654 Recap 2 September 11 New York Jets L 3–23 1–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 74,434 Recap 3 Indianapolis Colts W 23–17 2–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 75,148 Recap 4 September 25 at Cincinnati Bengals L 17–24 2–2 Riverfront Stadium 54,943 Recap 5 October 2 at Pittsburgh Steelers W 23–9 3–2 Three Rivers Stadium 56,410 Recap 6 October 9 Seattle Seahawks L 10–16 3–3 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 78,605 Recap 7 October 16 Philadelphia Eagles W 19–3 4–3 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 78,787 Recap 8 October 23 at Phoenix Cardinals W 29–21 5–3 Sun Devil Stadium 61,261 Recap 9 October 30 Cincinnati Bengals W 23–16 6–3 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 79,147 Recap 10 at Houston Oilers L 17–24 6–4 Houston Astrodome 51,467 Recap 11 November 13 at Denver Broncos L 7–30 6–5 Mile High Stadium 75,806 Recap 12 November 20 Pittsburgh Steelers W 27–7 7–5 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 77,131 Recap 13 November 27 at Washington Redskins W 17–13 8–5 RFK Stadium 51,604 Recap 14 December 4 Dallas Cowboys W 24–21 9–5 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 77,683 Recap 15 at Miami Dolphins L 31–38 9–6 Joe Robbie Stadium 61,884 Recap 16 December 18 Houston Oilers W 28–23 10–6 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 74,610 Recap Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Postseason
Round Date Opponent (seed) Result Record Venue Recap Wild Card December 24 Houston Oilers (5) L 23–24 0–1 Cleveland Municipal Stadium Recap
Game summaries
Week 1
Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-Apr-12.
Week 2
Week 9
Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2016-Dec-02.
Week 14
Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2016-Jan-31.
Week 16
Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2013-Dec-22.
Standings
Playoffs
AFC wild card game
Oilers cornerback Richard Johnson's interception set up kicker Tony Zendejas' game-clinching 49-yard field goal with 1:54 left in the game. After the Browns scored first on a 33-yard field goal by Matt Bahr, Houston marched 91 yards to score on quarterback Warren Moon's 14-yard touchdown pass to running back Allen Pinkett. Then on Cleveland's next drive, Oilers defensive lineman Richard Byrd recovered quarterback Don Strock's fumble to set up Pinkett's 16-yard touchdown run. Bahr later made two field goals to cut Houston's lead, 14–9, before halftime. In the third quarter, backup quarterback Mike Pagel, who replaced an injured Strock, threw a 14-yard touchdown completion to wide receiver Webster Slaughter to put the Browns ahead, 16–14. However, the Oilers marched on a 76-yard drive that was capped with running back Lorenzo White's 1-yard rushing touchdown. After Johnson's interception and Zendejas' subsequent game-clinching 49-yard field goal, Slaughter caught a 2-yard touchdown reception to close out the scoring.
References
External links 1988 Cleveland Browns at Pro Football Reference (Profootballreference.com) 1988 Cleveland Browns Statistics at jt-sw.com 1988 Cleveland Browns Schedule at jt-sw.com at DatabaseFootball.com