This is the backstory to one of the great moments of Week 5, the Cleveland Browns pulling off the largest road comeback in the 95-year history of the NFL and the biggest comeback in franchise history. The Browns' rally from a 25-point deficit to beat the Tennessee Titans, as well as the Buffalo Bills' last-second road win over the Detroit Lions and the New Orleans Saints' overtime win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are nominees for the GMC Never Say Never Moment of the week. Cast your vote for the GMC Never Say Never Moments of Week 5.
The Browns' long journey back to respectability is picking up steam. However, it seemed dead in the water at around 2:15 p.m. ET on Sunday, when the Titans took a commanding 28-3 lead. The saying "same old Browns" likely crept into the minds of many a football fan. Another thought that likely permeated the minds of fans was "when will we see Johnny Manziel in at quarterback?" Instead, first-year Browns coach Mike Pettine stuck with his man, veteran signalcaller Brian Hoyer, and the result was a comeback for the ages.
Here are the key moments before the moment:
The Wright stuff
The play:Titans backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst connects with wide receiver Kendall Wright for an 11-yard touchdown play.
The aftermath: The play gave the Titans a 21-3 lead with less than four minutes left in the second quarter. It was Wright's second touchdown of the game. The first also came on an 11-yard pass play, but that time from starting quarterback Jake Locker. Locker had been forced to leave the game after hurting the thumb on his throwing hand earlier in the game.
Titan-ic blow
The play: Whitehurst hits a wide-open Justin Hunter for a 75-yard touchdown with a little less than four minutes left in the first half.
The aftermath: The Titans grew their lead to 28-3 in an instant. With the second touchdown throw, this became the first game in Whitehurst's nine-year career in which he had multiple touchdown passes (it's true, you can look it up here). At this point in the contest, the Browns' defense looked totally incapable of stopping the Titans.
Glimmer of hope for Browns
The play: Hoyer hits unheralded tight end Jim Dray for a 1-yard touchdown play before going to the locker room for halftime.
"I think that first score in the first half was tremendous for us," Pettine told The Plain Dealer. "To get that momentum going before halftime and (then we) kicked a field goal the first drive of the second, I think those 10 points really, really set us up and got the belief back."
Safety first
The play:Titans punter Brett Kern's punt is blocked by the Browns' Tank Carder and the ball rolls through the back of the end zone for a safety.
The aftermath: The play trimmed the Titans' lead to 28-15 and a massive momentum swing went in the Browns' favor. Cleveland took advantage of the opportunity. Hoyer engineered a 10-play, 67-yard drive to pull the Browns to within six of the Titans after a nifty 17-yard touchdown pass to receiver Travis Benjamin. On the play, Hoyer eluded the grasp of Titans linebacker Shaun Phillips. The supposed "game manager" turned into playmaker to cap a nine-point swing that made the Herculean comeback a very real possibility.
The moment
The play: Hoyer connects with Benjamin again, this time for a 6-yard scoring strike that put the Browns up 29-28 with a minute left to play.
The win was all kinds of epic from the Browns' perspective. More than 1,600 teams in NFL history have fallen behind by 25 or more points on the road. On Sunday, the Browns became the first of that long list of teams to ever prevail. The 25-point rally was just three points short of the NFL's all-time regular-season mark of 28 (set in 1980 by the San Francisco 49ers against the New Orleans Saints). The Browns have also scored 21 or more points in each of their first four games of the season for the first time since 1969 (when the team did so in the first seven games).
The Titans, meanwhile, were once again on the wrong side of history. The franchise, if you recall, was the Houston Oilers before moving to Tennessee in 1997 and eventually becoming the Titans. As the Oilers, the team saw a 35-3 lead evaporate in the greatest comeback in NFL history, the Buffalo Bills' 1992 AFC wild-card win over the Oilers.
While misery continued to bedevil the Titans in the aftermath, there was only supreme joy in the visiting team's locker room at LP Field, where the emotional and dramatic victory spawned this exuberant postgame dance party:
2003 Washington Redskins: 5
This was the second and final season for the ol' ball coach -- Steve Spurrier -- at the helm of the Redskins.
2014 Cleveland Browns: 4
Did you know? Both of the Browns' wins this season resulted in GMC Never Say Never nominations; Week 2 was the other.
2005 Washington Redskins: 4
The Redskins' 2005 season ended with first of three consecutive playoff losses to the Seahawks; 2007 and 2012 are the others.
1989 Green Bay Packers: 4
Additional reference materials: Don Majkowski's mullet.
1933 Chicago Cardinals: 4
Sad, but true: Despite those close finishes early in the season, team finished 1-9-1.
1932 Chicago Bears: 4
#TrueStory: Bears started the season with three consecutive 0-0 ties before beating the Packers 2-0.
1923 Racine Legion: 4
Fun fact: This team featured players named Shorty Barr, Death Halladay and Milt Romney.
Next up: The longtime rival/nemesis Pittsburgh Steelers visit Cleveland for a rematch of a Week 1 tussle that came down to a last-second field goal in a 30-27 Steelers win.
Follow Jim Reineking on Twitter @jimreineking.
