When the Browns take on the 49ers tomorrow afternoon, it will mark the teams’ first meeting in 10 years. Like that Monday Night Football matchup, this game will be nationally televised.

Do you remember the night of Sept. 13, 1993? My wife and I were en route from a visit with her parents in upstate New York back to our home in Ohio. Normally it’s a drive we make in one day, but there was no way I was going to miss the Browns on MNF. (I remember going to camp in 1979 and not learning about the Browns’ 26-7 victory over the powerhouse Dallas Cowboys until the next weekend. Even the newspaper had been thrown away by then.)

So we rented a hotel room somewhere in Pennsylvania and watched a sterling 23-13 victory. Bernie Kosar outdueled Steve Young in front of a season-high crowd of 78,218 at the Stadium. When Michael Jackson caught a 30-yard touchdown from Kosar early in the second quarter, it was the 14,000th point in the history of Monday Night Football. The defense held San Francisco scoreless in the second half, and the Browns were sitting pretty at 2-0.

In fact, they started that season 5-2 (3-0 in the division) before the wheels came off: Kosar was cut, the home crowds dimished (71,668, then 60,388, then 48,618), and the Browns lost 7 of its last 9 to finish with a losing record. The season foreshadowed an even worse betrayal to come….