Chiefs vs Browns: How do they match up historically?

How do the Chiefs and Browns match up historically? A closer look.

The Kansas City Chiefs will face off against the Cleveland Browns this weekend in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs, but how do the two teams match up historically? Let’s take a look.

The Chiefs have played the Browns 26 times throughout the years, but Sunday will be the first time the two sides have met in the postseason. Overall, Kansas City has a slight edge over Cleveland, leading the head-to-head 13-11 with two ties.

More recently, since Andy Reid’s arrival at Kansas City in 2013, he has faced the Browns three times (in 2013, ‘15 and ‘18), with the Chiefs winning each of those contests. The Chiefs never trailed in any of those three games under Reid, with Cleveland failing to take the lead at any stage in any of them.

The two sides last met in Week 9 of the 2018 season in Cleveland, with the Chiefs scoring five touchdowns on their way to a comfortable 37-21 win. Kansas City led the game from start to finish and had over 100 more total yards on offense than Cleveland.

Patrick Mahomes threw for 375 yards with three touchdowns and one interception in that game, while Travis Kelce had 99 yards and two touchdowns on seven receptions, and Kareem Hunt—then with the Chiefs—rushed for 91 yards and two touchdowns with a 50-yard receiving touchdown as well. Sammy Watkins and Tyreek Hill both had over 60 yards receiving.

For Cleveland, Baker Mayfield had 297 yards passing on 42 attempts, with two touchdowns and one interception. Running back Nick Chubb had a rushing touchdown to go along with his 85 yards on the ground, while Duke Johnson was the Browns’ best receiver on the day with nine catches, 85 yards and two touchdowns.

Overall, Reid is 7-0 in his head coaching career against Cleveland dating back to his time in Philadelphia, but this weekend will be the first time he’s faced a Browns side with a winning record.

Cleveland will enter the matchup full of confidence, riding the wave of their first playoff appearance in 17 seasons and coming off the back of an impressive win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Chiefs will need to be wary of a fast-starting Cleveland after they scored 28 points in the first quarter against Pittsburgh, the most points scored in the opening quarter of a playoff game in NFL history.

But even if Kansas City does find itself down by a similar margin on Sunday, we all know what happened last time they trailed by more than 20 points in the divisional round.