Monday night, the Cleveland Browns head to Pittsburgh for a spotlight game. The Browns pushed around the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1 en route to a 24-3 win, while the Steelers were completely outclassed in a 30-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. The Browns are looking to go 2-0 for the first time in 30 years and 2-0 in division play for the first time since 2019. The Steelers, obviously, are looking to turn things around and avoid starting 0-2 for just the fourth time since 2000.

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But before we turn our attention to Monday night, let’s take a look back.

To 1989

BetMGM lists the Browns as the favorites in Pittsburgh. Given that Cleveland dominated Cincinnati in Week 1 and Pittsburgh was overwhelmed by San Francisco in its home opener, that’s not surprising.

It is a bit staggering, though, if you’re into history and scanning the odds. Per a query confirmed by KillerSports.com, this is the first time the Browns have been favored in Pittsburgh since 1989.

Yes, it’s really been 34 years. And the Browns only disappeared for three when they moved to Baltimore before being reborn in 1999.

The new-era Browns have one regular-season win in the stadium formerly known as Heinz Field, and that was in 2003. The Browns won a playoff game in an empty stadium there during the 2020 season, but they’re 0-2 since. The name became Acrisure Stadium last year, and the Browns lost in the season finale.

If you’re at all aware of how bad it’s been, you’re also likely aware that the Browns haven’t finished ahead of the Steelers in the standings since 1989. That’s also the last time Cleveland won the division, which was then the AFC Central. The Browns were 2-point favorites in the 1989 season opener at Three Rivers Stadium, and they crushed the Steelers 51-0 in Bud Carson’s coaching debut. The current Browns don’t have a single player who was alive in September 1989.

After that Browns win in 2003 — a Sunday night game during which the Steelers couldn’t tackle running back William Green — the Steelers won 12 straight against the Browns, who didn’t win again in the series until 2009. Pittsburgh then won eight of the next nine matchups. Then, following a 2014 victory by Cleveland, the Steelers ran off another six before one of the strangest games in recent memory, a season-opening tie in Cleveland in 2018. The day after the teams played in Pittsburgh two months later, the Browns fired head coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley. Jackson became the fifth coach of the team’s new era to be fired immediately after losing to the Steelers.

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The Browns are 2-4 versus the Steelers in the regular season under current head coach Kevin Stefanski, who wasn’t at the playoff win due to the NFL’s COVID-19 protocols. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is 25-6-1 versus the Browns.

As of Wednesday afternoon, BetMGM had the Browns favored by 2.5 points with a game total of 38.5. History isn’t going to tackle Nick Chubb or block Myles Garrett, so we’ll see if the current Steelers can do those things.

To 2013

Monday is game day. It also marks the 10-year anniversary of the Browns trading running back Trent Richardson to the Indianapolis Colts.

What now goes down as one of the eye-popping bad trades in recent memory was a shocker. The Browns had just drafted Richardson at No. 3 overall 16 months earlier, and Richardson had a good rookie season with 950 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns, as well as 51 receptions for 367 yards and another touchdown. But the Browns had changed owners, coaches and football executives in the latter part of 2012 and early part of 2013, and someone knew that bailing on Richardson was the right move. The Colts, who’d long been desperate to pair a top running back with quarterback Andrew Luck, offered up their 2014 first-round pick on the day after the second game of the 2013 season.

At the time, the consensus external view was that the Browns were tanking. And with it being before tanking was generally considered cool or wise, the Browns were initially viewed as the losers of the trade.

Richardson flamed out quickly. The Browns were in position to beef up a roster that needed major help on both sides, but they fired their top executives from 2013, Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi, early in the 2014 offseason. Ray Farmer was promoted to general manager, and with a nudge from ownership, he used the Browns’ first-round picks on Justin Gilbert and Johnny Manziel. Neither made it to a third year with the Browns, and the Manziel pick was so bad that Netflix recently put out a really poor documentary about it.

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Those draft misses helped launch a historically bad three-year run for the Browns, who went 4-44 from 2015 to 2017. Trading players for draft capital became Cleveland’s thing, and the Browns also ended up with multiple first-round picks in 2015, 2017 and 2018. Now, the Browns are viewed as one of the most aggressive buyers in the NFL trade market, and this current roster’s core pieces acquired via trade include Deshaun Watson, Amari Cooper, Za’Darius Smith and Elijah Moore.

Richardson played in 29 games for the Colts, who cut him following his second season in Indianapolis. Richardson finished his three-year NFL career with 17 rushing touchdowns with an average of 3.3 yards per carry.

To last year

In Week 2 last season, the Browns were two minutes away from being 2-0. They led the New York Jets by 13 inside the two-minute warning, and the Jets were out of timeouts.

A series of unlikely and hard-to-explain events started when Chubb and Kareem Hunt both failed to fall down inbounds. Chubb scored on a 12-yard run with 1:55 left, and Cade York’s missed point-after attempt left the score 30-17. Shortly after, Joe Flacco started launching passes and the Browns weren’t really covering anyone. The Jets scored on a 66-yard Flacco-to-Corey Davis pass with 1:22 left, made the PAT, then recovered the ensuing onside kick after the ball got away from the usually sure-handed Cooper.

From there, Flacco got hot again. Jets pass catchers were wide open again, and a 15-yarder to then-rookie Garrett Wilson tied the game with 22 seconds left. Greg Zuerlein’s PAT won it, leaving the home crowd — and home sideline — in stunned silence.

Why Stefanski didn’t fire defensive coordinator Joe Woods then or in the three to five weeks that followed, we’ll probably never know. But Woods was fired at the conclusion of last season, and new defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz is off to a strong start after the Browns dismantled the Bengals in Week 1. Denzel Ward and Grant Delpit were caught out of position and apparently confused by the Browns’ zone-coverage calls during the Jets’ rally, but both played well against Cincinnati. The Browns’ pass rush, led by Garrett and Smith, got to Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow on the first play and never let up.

GO DEEPER

Ten final thoughts following Browns' Week 1 victory over Bengals

What the Browns did to the Bengals wasn’t much different than what the 49ers did to the Steelers in Week 1. Pittsburgh got two yards — yes, two — in the first quarter. It was 20-0 before the Steelers finally got a first down late in the first half, and the 49ers bullied the Steelers’ offensive line and second-year quarterback Kenny Pickett.

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The Browns have high-level man coverage cornerbacks, and under Schwartz, they play more man-to-man than last season. The pass-rush plan is always attack first, attack second and live with the consequences. The Steelers absolutely will miss injured wide receiver Diontae Johnson, who’s one of the league’s best at getting open in short range. Pittsburgh’s run defense will also be without perennial Pro Bowler Cameron Heyward, who’s expected to miss significant time due to a groin injury.

It’s been a while since the linemakers thought the Browns were good enough to go on the road and beat the Steelers. Monday night, we’ll find out if they can.

(Top photo: Justin K. Aller / Getty Images);