Bernie Kosar was an attacking, aggressive quarterback.
He didn’t like to play conservatively, but rather, he wanted to go right after defenses.
In fact, he thought an offense should throw a deep pass — a bomb — at least once a quarter.
And so it was as he and the Browns began to prepare for their crucial game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Riverfront Stadium in the next-to-last week of the 1986 regular season.
The Browns were 10-4 and could clinch the AFC Central championship for the second straight year with a win over the Bengals, but it would not be easy. Cincinnati had throttled the Browns 30-13 at Cleveland early in the season, and so head coach Sam Wyche’s club came into the game with all kinds of confidence. The Bengals were 9-5 and right on the Browns’ heels, and they had division title hopes in their minds as well.
The Bengals were bound and determined that the Browns weren’t going to celebrate a division title on their field, and the Browns were just as bound and determined that they were not going to be embarrassed again.
Kosar went to Browns head coach Marty Schottenheimer, on Monday of game week and asked if the offense could throw a bomb on its first play of the game.
“I’ll think about it,” Schottenheimer said.
On Tuesday, Kosar again asked Schottenheimer if the offense could throw a bomb on its first play of the game.
“I’ll think about it,” Schottenheimer said.
On Wednesday, Kosar went to Schottenheimer once more and asked him.
“I’ll think about it,” Schottenheimer said.
It was the same thing on Thursday, with Kosar posting the question to his coach.
“I’ll think about it,” Schottenheimer said.
On Friday, essentially the last day the Browns could implement something like that into the game plan, Kosar asked the coach one more time about throwing a bomb on the first play.
Schottenheimer had made his decision.
“OK, you can do it,” he said.
“Great!!,” Kosar exclaimed.
Offensive coordinator Lindy Infante told Kosar they had to set the bomb up, so, after the Browns won the coin toss and elected to receive, they tried a running play into the middle of the line on the first play. On the next play, with the Bengals creeping in thinking that the Browns might try to run it again or throw a safe, conservative, short pass, Kosar faked the run, dropped back into the pocket and hit streaking wide receiver Reggie Langhorne in stride down the right sideline. The Bengals pushed him out of bounds on the Cincinnati 1, and a play later, the Browns ran into the end zone for a touchdown to get a lightning-quick 7-0 lead over the stunned Bengals.
The Browns never quit attacking all day, and by the time the game was over, they had chased the Bengals right out of their own building, winning by a resounding 34-3 to capture the division crown.
So, then, you might ask, what does this have to do with the current Browns?
For the life of me, I have a very, very, very hard time imagining Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, agreeing to let quarterback Deshaun Watson throw a bomb on the offense’s second play of critical Kate-season division game on the road. And I think offensive coordinator, Alex,Van Pelt would go right along with his coach.
I just don’t think they have the savvy to make a dynamic decision like that.
But great teams have that type of mentality. And if the Browns want to be a great team, especially on offense, they had better acquire that mindset between now and the start of the regular season.
Steve King
