'The Brown Bowl': Brown twins from London, Ont. to face each other on field for first time

Identical twins Chase and Sydney Brown talk on the phone every night.

That was until this week, when, for the first time ever, the brothers will play against each other on a football field.

“It’ll be like a one-week breakup, it'll be alright,” Sydney told Philadelphia media this week. “We'll both go our own ways, play, you know, study our game plan, play the game, and then after we'll be back like we never left.”

Family and friends from Canada will be travelling the six-hour drive to Cincinnati to watch Chase’s Bengals take on Sydney’s Philadelphia Eagles Sunday at 1 p.m.

It’s a once-in-four-year game on the schedule, which they had been circling since they were drafted.

Now it’s here.

“We were talking last night, and he's like, ‘We can still talk like, over the game and stuff,’ but he's like, ‘We just can't talk football because we just cannot talk football,’” said Sydney. “It's hard not to, because that's what we do, like, that's our everyday life.”

Philadelphia Eagles safety Sydney Brown runs with the ball after intercepting a pass from Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 31, 2023, in Philadelphia. Brown returned the ball for a touchdown on the play. (Source: AP Photo/Matt Slocum)Chase said his mom Raechel Brown is “hoping for a tie.”

“My mom doesn't want to watch, but she wants to watch at the same time,” Chase told media in Cincinnati. “It'll be interesting, and I think it'll be a lot of fun. It'll just be a lot of fun being able to compete against him. Never really have before. I've always been on, like, the same team as him, so now he's on the opposing side. It'll be, it'll be interesting.”

In their rookie season, it was Sydney who had the more successful start.

He had 33 tackles and an interception for a touchdown before tearing his ACL. He was out since January, before returning last week. He should see some special teams duties and a few snaps on defence as he works his way back from injury.

Chase has now taken over the starting running back job in Cincinnati.

Cincinnati Bengals running back Chase Brown (30) runs for a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the New York Giants, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in East Rutherford, N.J. (Source: AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)After getting 44 carries all of last season, he already has 66 through the first seven games and has four touchdowns this year.

His first career touchdown came with his high school coaches from South Secondary in London in the Stands. 

“The trajectory of both their careers heading in the right direction, heading into Sunday's first ever ‘Brown Bowl,’” said Dave Naylor of TSN.

Naylor said neither one of these twins will back down, as both are very competitive.

“In fact, when they did face each other in live practices at the University of Illinois, the head coach Brett Bielema, he had to stop it as it was too violent,” said Naylor.

“Sydney Brown was thrown out of a practice for collisions with his brother. He (Bielema) said, ‘No, the Browns do not live practice against each other anymore.’”

If Sydney were to bring down Chase, he would be the first player to tackle his identical twin brother since Ronde Barber tackled Tiki Barber in Week 8 of the 2006 season.

When it comes to any sort of wager between the two this week, Chase said it’s only for household bragging rights.

“This one’s going to last for about four years, so this one’s for keeps,” said Chase.