Tuesday marked the 31st anniversary of the stunning death of Browns safety Don Rogers.
It was June 27, 1986, about a month before the start of training camp, that Rogers suffered a cocaine overdose at his bachelor party the night before he was to have been married.
His death came after he had played two seasons with the Browns, who picked him in the first round, at No. 18 overall, out of UCLA in the 1984 NFL Draft.
It was one of the five worst days in Browns history. Three others came in the first half of 1962 when Ernie Davis, Don Fleming and Tom Bloom all died.
The fifth worst day? When the original franchise moved to Baltimore after the 1995 season.
Rank them in whatever order you wish, but those are the candidates.
In doing a “Where are they now?” video interview about six years ago with former cornerback Frank Minnifield, who came to the Browns from the USFL the same year that Rogers was drafted, he talked at length about his old teammate. It wasn’t long before we got around to the numbing 23-20 loss in overtime to the Denver Broncos in the 1986 AFC Championship Game. It was the closest the Browns have ever been to getting a Super Bowl berth.
Minnifield was still cringing about the way quarterback John Elway drove the Broncos 98 yards through the Cleveland defense late in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 20-20 and force OT. The Browns had gained a 20-13 lead on a 48-yard touchdown pass from Bernie Kosar to wide receiver Brian Brennan with just under five minutes left.
Minnifield and I agreed that the Browns would have won that game if Rogers had lived. We both said that “The Drive” never would have happened. Rogers’ presence in the secondary would have been the difference.
“At some point earlier in the game, Rogers would have clobbered a receiver coming over the middle,” I said in the interview. “Because of that, the Broncos would have been reluctant to try to throw between the numbers. And you (Minnifield) and (fellow cornerback) Hanford (Dixon) were lockdown guys outside the numbers. So where was Elway going to throw on that last drive? Before that drive, he had struggled to complete passes and move the offense.”
But Minnifield added something I hadn’t considered.
“You remember that in addition to some passes he completed on that drive, Elway really hurt us with a few scrambles when plays broke down. Those runs wouldn’t have taken place had Don been there. He was a big, big hitter, and with him lurking, Elway would have thought twice about taking off with the ball.”
Then Minnifield just looked down. A fun-loving guy who loves to talk, he had a stoic – sad – expression on his face and said nothing.
I was right with him on that one. I felt the same way and, all these years later, still do.
That sick feeling never totally goes away. It really doesn’t.
