 The team subsequently reached the playoffs three times in the late 1980s, but fell short of playing in the Super Bowl, the inter-league championship game between the NFL and the rival American Football League (AFL) that started in 1966.When the AFL and NFL merged before the 1970 season, Cleveland became part of the new American Football Conference (AFC).While the Browns made it back to the playoffs in 1971 and 1972, they fell into mediocrity through the mid-1970s.