By STEVE KING
What I — and perhaps a good number of you as well — will remember from Monday night’s 26-22 loss at Pittsburgh was the Browns defense being fantastic and the offense being much less than that, which made for Cleveland beating itself more than the Steelers did.
That’s obvious.
But what I — and perhaps many of you as well again — will remember most is the season-ending knee injury in the second quarter to the best running back in the game, the Browns’ Nick Chubb, and what happened before and after it.
Chubb had been running over, through and around the Steelers to the tune of 64 yards in 10 carries. They had no idea how to stop him. If he had not gotten hurt, he might have gone for nearly 200 yards. Yes, he was that dominant. There is now no doubt that he has already etched his name onto the top part of the list of the very best Browns backs ever, regardless of what happens going forward.
When he got tackled near the Pittsburgh goal line after another strong run, he blew out his knee. It was so gruesome that when the replay was shown on the video screen, the crowd gasped loudly, and then groaned even louder. In fact, it was so much louder than I had ever heard at any stadium or arena in any sport. Then the fans began chanting his last name, again louder than I had ever heard for a visiting team player in any stadium or arena in any sport.
Wow.
Double-wow.
It was unbelievable in a lot of ways, and extremely classy.
Browns-Steelers is a heated, intense rivalry — among the most so in the NFL — that dates back almost 75 years. Within that, though, there is an understanding and respect for the spirit of the rivalry.
Several years ago when Bill Cowher, a former Browns linebacker/special teamer and assistant coach who went on to be an iconic Steelers head coach, was giving his acceptance speech upon being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, many in the big Pittsburgh contingent in the audience in Canton booed when he mentioned his time with the Browns. Cowher interrupted them and said he has a lot of fond memories of the Browns and Cleveland, mentioning that all of his children were born there.
Years earlier, late Steelers president Dan Rooney bucked longtime close friend Art Modell and fought hard for him to be forced to leave behind the Browns’ name, colors and history after the original franchise’s move to Baltimore, and he also lobbied for Cleveland to get an expansion team.
When the new Browns played their first game against the Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium in 1999, Rooney was heard to say in the press box as he watched the Browns in the pre-game warmups, “It sure is good to see those orange helmets back on my field again.”
Rooney’s father, Art Rooney Sr., who founded the Steelers, and Modell were great friends. There was a stalemate in the completion of the merger of the NFL and American Football League in 1970. Three old NFL teams had to agree to move to the old AFL to balance out the National Football Conference and American Football Conference at 13 teams each. No one from the NFL wanted to go to what they perceived to be an inferior league. Baltimore Colts owner Jim Irsay finally said he would go, and then Modell went to see Rooney, who was hospitalized, and said he would go only if Rooney went and they would be promised to be in the same division. Rooney agreed, allowing the merger to be finalized.
Also from the Browns’ side, former longtime Cleveland radio color analyst Doug Dieken struggled emotionally for a long time after the death three years ago of former longtime Steelers radio color analyst Tunch Ilkin due to Lou Gehrig Disease. They both were born and raised in Illinois and played offendive tackle for their respective teams.
In one other note, in a piece the other day, I inadvertently left out the name of Cowher as one of the former Browns players who went on to become a coordinator for the team. He ran the special teams in 1987 and ‘88. The others are the current Bubba Ventrone, along with Dub Jones and Dick Modzelewski.
