The funeral Mass for former Browns assistant coach Dave Adolph is set for Friday morning at a church in the Columbus suburb of Dublin.

 

Adolph, the former Mogadore High School and University of Akron star who was defensive line coach and then defensive coordinator of the Browns from 1979-84 and then 1986-88, passed away last Sunday. He was 79.

 

Adolph was one of the two best defensive coordinators the Browns have had in the modern era. The other one was a guy named Nick Saban, who followed Adolph just three years later in holding the job from 1991-94. Perhaps you’ve heard of him, too. Both men’s defenses were outstanding.

 

In any event, the sad part of this story – aside, of course, from Adolph’s passing – is that even with Adolph calling the defense, and Lindy Infante, who died not long ago, calling the shots on the other side of the ball as offensive coordinator, the Browns, in the two seasons (1986 and ’87) they were together, never made it to the franchise’s first Super Bowl.

 

Oh, sure, the Browns, of course, got so, so close, losing both years to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game, first 23-20 in overtime after they squandered a 20-13 lead late in the fourth quarter, and then 38-33 at Mile High Stadium in the rematch after they fumbled the ball away at the Denver 2 while running into the end zone with the tying touchdown with just over a minute left.

 

Ouch!

 

Double-ouch!

 

Even all these many years later.

 

Despite the nightmarish way in which those games and seasons ended, Browns fans still remember those teams with great fondness. The Browns were close enough to getting to the big game that they could almost taste it, feel it, smell it, see it.

 

But as sweet as those times were, they happened three decades ago. That’s a long, long time – way too long, in fact.

 

Fans can’t keep hanging onto those memories forever. The members of the current Browns regime have been charged with creating new great memories, and they need to keep that in mind each and every day.