The 1956 Cleveland Browns season was the team's eleventh season, and seventh season with the National Football League.
This was the first season in which the Browns missed the playoffs, and its first season with a losing record. The Browns lost seven games in 1956, after having lost a total of only 17 over the previous ten seasons combined. They were also the last two time defending champion to not score more than 30 points in a game until the 2024 Kansas City Chiefs.
Exhibition schedule Game Date Opponent Result Venue Attendance Sources 1 August 10 vs. College All-Stars at Chicago W 26–0 75,000 2 August 19 at San Francisco 49ers L 17–28 38,741 3 August 24 at Los Angeles Rams L 6–17 40,175 4 September 1 Green Bay Packers L 20–21 15,456 5 September 7 at Detroit Lions L 0–17 48,105 6 September 15 vs. Detroit Lions at Akron L 14–31 28,201 7 September 21 at Chicago Bears W 24–14 56,543
Regular season
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Recap Sources 1 September 30 at Chicago Cardinals L 7–9 0–1 Comiskey Park 20,966 Recap 2 at Pittsburgh Steelers W 14–10 1–1 Forbes Field 35,398 Recap 3 October 14 New York Giants L 9–21 1–2 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 60,042 Recap 4 October 21 at Washington Redskins L 9–20 1–3 Griffith Stadium 23,322 Recap 5 October 28 Pittsburgh Steelers L 16–24 1–4 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 50,358 Recap 6 November 4 at Green Bay Packers W 24–7 2–4 Milwaukee County Stadium 28,590 Recap 7 November 11 Baltimore Colts L 7–21 2–5 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 42,404 Recap 8 November 18 at Philadelphia Eagles W 16–0 3–5 Connie Mack Stadium 25,894 Recap 9 November 25 Washington Redskins L 17–20 3–6 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 22,878 Recap 10 December 2 Philadelphia Eagles W 17–14 4–6 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 20,645 Recap 11 December 9 at New York Giants W 24–7 5–6 Yankee Stadium 27,707 Recap 12 December 16 Chicago Cardinals L 7–24 5–7 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 25,312 Recap Note: Intra-conference opponents are in bold text. .
Season recap Week 1 at Chicago The post Otto Graham era begins with a 9-7 loss to the Cardinals in Chicago. Cleveland's only score comes on a 46-yard touchdown pass from George Ratterman to Ray Renfro in the first quarter. But Pat Summerall's third field goal, a nine-yarder with 29 seconds remaining, won it for the Cardinals and broke a twelve-game losing streak to the Browns. The Cardinals later won the season finale.
Standings
Roster 1956 Cleveland Browns roster Quarterbacks
Running backs
P WR
Receivers Offensive linemen G G C T T/K C/T T/G T
Defensive linemen DT DE DE/DT DT DE DE Linebackers OLB MLB OLB OLB/C
Defensive backs S CB CB S S Reserve list LB (Military) LB (IR) DE (Military) RB (Military) RB (IR) QB (IR) RB (Military)
rookies in italics
References
External links 1956 Cleveland Browns at Pro Football Reference (profootballreference.com) 1956 Cleveland Browns Statistics at jt-sw.com 1956 Cleveland Browns Schedule at jt-sw.com at DatabaseFootball.com