STRENGTH IN NUMBERS POWER PITTSBURGH, AND 1988 BROWNS

By STEVE KING

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is being rested because the game means nothing for his team, and as such the Pittsburgh Steelers will use backups Mason Rudolph – or Rudolph Mason or whatever his name is – and likely also Joshua Dobbs in his place against the Browns on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium.

Browns fans seem overjoyed, thinking that it gives their team a big advantage, and a better chance to win – perhaps even an excellent one. The oddsmakers have taken notice, too, and also are convinced it provides a great opportunity for the Browns to beat Pittsburgh and get to the playoffs – as a wild card — for the first time in 18 years. They have upped the Browns to 10-point – yes, that’s right, 10-point – favorites. When’s the last time that Cleveland has been favored by that much over Pittsburgh? The last half of the 1980s, perhaps?

But before they start planning Victory Monday celebrations, Browns fans – especially the longtime ones – had better tap into their memory banks, about their own team.

It was 1988 and the Browns, following two straight  excruciatingly-close losses to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game, were the overwhelming favorites to represent the conference in the franchise’s first trip to the Super Bowl. But the plan began to disintegrate right away when Bernie Kosar, one of the best young quarterbacks in the game, suffered an elbow injury when he was hit when the Browns missed a blitz pickup in the opener at Kansas City. It started a series of injuries at quarterback – the most in team history in any season and perhaps also the most in NFL history – in which the Browns lost their starter five times – Kosar (twice), along with Gary Danielson, Mike Pagel and Don Strock.

That would have devastated almost every team, and while it set the Browns back a peg or two, they were able to survive it and finish 10-6, making it to the playoffs for the fourth straight year. Why did this happen? How did this happen?

Because the Browns were so strong at all the other positions.

The Steelers are that team now. They’re strong just about everywhere.

They have a lot of pride, too, as they proved last Sunday when they returned from the dead – a 24-7 third-quarter deficit to the Indianapolis Colts at Heinz Field – and rallied with three unanswered touchdowns to win 28-24, stopping a three-game losing skid in which their offense went nowhere fast, and getting their mojo back.

So, then, Browns fans had better beware.

And oh, before we end this, you might be interested to know that in the regular-season finale, in a game they had to win in order to get to the playoffs, the 1988 Browns were given up for dead after they fell behind 23-7 to the Houston Oilers in the third quarter at Cleveland Stadium. But, with their pride in addition to the postseason on the line, they rallied with three unanswered touchdowns to win 28-23.

Hmmm.

Hmmm.