Written by Jesse Lamovsky

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With Super Bowl XLVI fast approaching, it’s time to take a trip into the only land that houses a Cleveland Browns Super Bowl- the land of make-believe. In Turtledove-esque fashion, let’s go back a quarter of a century and make some alternative history. In this history, the Browns bedevil the Broncos in both the 1986 and ’87 AFC Championship Games to reach consecutive Super Bowls against the New York Giants and Washington Redskins. Here is the story of those Super Bowls.

Super Bowl XXI

January 31, 1988: Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego, CA

Washington Redskins (11-4) vs. Cleveland Browns (10-5)

 

For the first time in a generation- not counting the flash-in-the-pan that was 1980- the ‘87 Browns went into a season knowing they were a legitimate Championship contender. Cleveland was a year older and a year better than in 1986. They were a team minted with the experience of playing, and winning, big games. And with Bernie Kosar entering his third season- the season a great quarterback hits his stride- fans had every reason to feel that this would be the year their team brought the NFL Championship home to Cleveland, where it belonged.

As it turned out the Browns did get back to the Big Game- but only by the hardest. This was the best Cleveland team since the Merger- balanced, experienced and as their 40-7 road blistering of the playoff-bound Oilers proved, capable of dominating even a solid opponent. Bernie indeed had his best year as a pro, Earnest Byner came back healthy and had a big year and the defense finished third in total and second in scoring. Cleveland sent eight players to the Pro Bowl in 1987, the most of any team.

But at times it seemed the Browns were so laser-focused on San Diego- the site of Super Bowl XXII- that they lost focus on the mundane of the regular season. 1987 was in some ways a season of frustration, with the player’s strike, a cancelled Monday Night showdown with Denver at the Stadium and a couple of galling losses to inferior teams consigning Cleveland to a somewhat pedestrian 10-5 record. The Browns had rode their home field to the Super Bowl in ’86. Now the road back led through Denver, where the locals were itching for revenge for their year-old defeat.

After thumping the Colts in the AFC Divisional Playoffs the Browns headed to Denver to take on the Broncos, who had gone 7-0 at Mile High Stadium during the regular season. With 75,000 Broncomaniacs making the old minor-league park shake, the Browns fell behind 21-3 at halftime and 28-10 early in the third quarter. But a second-half explosion by Kosar, Byner and Co. tied the game at 31-31, and midway through the fourth the Donkeys saw their Super Bowl dreams die the same way as the year before- on the bomb from Bernie to Brian. Kosar’s 55-yard scoring strike to Brennan put Cleveland ahead to stay and put the bow on a 38-33 come-from-behind victory. After not reaching the Super Bowl in their first twenty tries, the Browns were in the big game for the second year in a row.

The best team in the NFC in 1987- in the whole NFL, actually- was San Francisco. The 49ers had finishing with the league’s best record at 13-2 and were ranked number one in total offense and total defense. They had soundly whipped the Browns on a Sunday night in November, Joe Montana riddling the heralded Cleveland secondary. But Bill Walsh’s powerhouse was upset by Minnesota the same day the Browns defeated the Colts, and for the first time in a long time the door in the NFC was wide-open.

The team that stepped through had survived its own rough voyage. The unity of the Washington Redskins had been tested by the player’s strike and a late-season change at quarterback when Joe Gibbs benched starter Jay Schroeder in favor of veteran Doug Williams. The test was passed with flying colors: the Redskins were the only team to not have a single man cross the picket line, and they rallied around Williams, who rose above a career of disappointment and galvanized the squad with his leadership and rifle arm.

Unlike previous National Conference champs, who dominated the postseason, Washington had to fight tooth-and-nail all the way through. In the first round the Redskins came back from a 14-0 deficit to upset the Bears on a frigid day in Chicago. Darrell Green provided the game-winner with his meandering 52-yard punt return for a touchdown. The next week in the title game back home in RFK Stadium, Washington escaped the Vikings when Darrin Nelson dropped the potential game-tying touchdown on the goal line.

Though they were not the most imposing in a line of very imposing NFC Champions, the Redskins were well-versed in winning. Since the sixth week of the 1981 season, Joe Gibbs’s first in DC, Washington was 74-25 with three NFC East titles, three NFC titles and one World Championship. The veteran core- Dave Butz, Dexter Manley, Russ Grimm, Joe Jacoby and others- had played in three Super Bowls.

And the ’87 edition was plenty formidable. Washington’s defensive and offensive lines were among the best in the game, as was the receiving troika of Art Monk, Gary Clark and Ricky Sanders. There was speed to burn on the perimeters; Sanders and cornerback Darrell Green were among the fastest players in the game at their positions. The Redskins had proven their mettle by winning in frigid Soldier Field in the playoffs.

Nevertheless the Browns were a three-point favorite as the game got underway on a warm, cloudy afternoon at Jack Murphy Stadium. Their experience in the previous Super Bowl was one reason; so was the presence of Kosar, who was considered a surer bet to play well than Williams, his journeyman counterpart. Cleveland was probably the second-best team in the league in 1987, behind only San Francisco, and the 49ers weren’t playing in this game. And the unlikely comeback in Denver seemed to have cemented the Browns as a team of destiny.

Washington won the toss and received the opening kickoff and right from the start it became clear that the Redskins, veterans of so many big games, had a serious case of the jitters in this one. Guard R.C. Thielemann was hit with a false start on the first play from scrimmage, putting his team in an immediate hole. On third-and-eight Williams had Clark wide-open with a first down and more in front of him but Clark led the ball slide off his hands. Washington called on punter Steve Cox and the former Brown booted a forty-yarder, the Ice Cube fair-catching at the Cleveland 39.

On came Bernie and Co. who had been on a roll. Cleveland’s offense had put 69 points on the Colts and Broncos in the playoffs, including 35 in the second half of the AFC title game, and two weeks hadn’t cooled them off. Slashing runs by Byner gave the Browns one first down, and Bernie rang up another when, while being charged by Dexter Manley, he flared a short pass to Kevin Mack and the fullback rumbled to the Washington 32 before being tackled by a host of Redskins.

Having burned the Redskins on the short pass, Kosar now burned them with the long one. Diagnosing a blitz, Bernie found Brian Brennan isolated on safety Todd Bowles and hit him at the Washington two-yard line. Byner went over for his fifth postseason touchdown two plays later and with 9:41 to play in the first quarter the Browns had taken a 7-0 lead. It was the second year in a row Cleveland had scored on its first Super Bowl possession.

Washington’s second possession gained nothing but more self-inflicted wounds. A holding penalty wiped out Timmy Smith’s 18-yard carry on first down and, after Gary Clark’s second drop, Williams was dropped for a big loss by a blitzing Clay Matthews. Cox’s short punt set Cleveland up at midfield with an opportunity to increase the lead.

Kosar went right to work doing just that. After finding Webster Slaughter for twelve yards on a sideline route, Bernie tossed short to Byner for a gain of six. Kevin Mack picked up two on the ground, than Brennan tucked himself into a hole in the zone and caught Kosar’s strike for a gain of eleven. The Browns could get no further, Darrell Green tipping away Kosar’s end-zone strike for Slaughter, but Matt Bahr arrowed through a 34-yarder to make it 10-0 at the 5:01 mark of the first.

Needing a positive play, the Redskins blundered into a near-disaster when Williams and Timmy Smith botched a handoff and the ball bounced free at the Washington 18. Jeff Bostic recovered, but Washington was again forced to punt after three plays. Gerald McNeil returned all the way to the Redskin 42-yard line and the Browns were poised to maybe put the game away before the first period was even over.

Here Washington’s defense finally rose up. On first down Alvin Walton blitzed from his safety position and hogtied Kosar for a six-yard loss, taking the steam out of Cleveland’s threat. For the first time the Browns were forced to punt, and an early opportunity to take an insurmountable lead had slipped away.

Still, the first period ended with the Browns up 10-0 and in complete command, having outgained the Redskins 101-5. Washington could take consolation in knowing that they stopped themselves more than they’d been stopped by Cleveland. If the Redskins could get the drops and penalties out of their system they could get back into the game very quickly. They did exactly that as the second quarter opened.

The play that got the ‘Skins started came on third-and-seven from their 23, when former USFL star Kelvin Bryant slipped out for the screen and, behind a convoy of Hogs, motored 26 yards. On the next play Gary Clark shrugged off his miserable start and laid out for a spectacular diving catch at Cleveland 27. Timmy Smith ran a counter and, with Cleveland defenders getting knocked over like tenpins, carried down to the 13. Williams finished off the six-play, 80-yard march with a perfect touch pass to Clint Didier in the back of the end zone. “Very quickly” was right: it had taken Washington less than three minutes to make it a 10-7 game.

Inspired by the score, the Redskins now gave the ball back to their offense after just three plays, ageless Dave Butz stoning Kevin Mack for a loss on third-and-one. Lee Johnson’s shanked punt carried only to the Washington 47, and the suddenly hot Redskins offense now went right back to work.

Taking advantage of the absence of Cleveland’s run-plugging nose tackle Bob Golic, the Hogs chewed open holes for Timmy Smith, who had finished fourth on the team in rushing during the regular season but was now the main man with starter George Rogers a late scratch. Consistently getting to the second level before being hit, Smith propelled the Redskins deep into Cleveland territory. When a nine-yard Smith burst set up first-and-goal at the two, it seemed certain that Washington would take its first lead of Super Bowl XXII.

It wasn’t. Eddie Johnson turned the tide on first down when he shot the gap and stopped Smith for a three-yard loss. Williams then fumbled the snap and fell on it for a loss of one. On third down, Williams was rushed and forced to throw the ball away. Ali Haji-Sheikh came out and converted the 23-yarder to tie the game at 10-10.

Cleveland’s offense then cranked it up again. Punishing runs by Mack and Bernie’s finesse passing carried the Browns into Redskin territory. But with 6:41 left in the half and Cleveland inside the Washington 30, disaster struck when Monte Coleman stripped Earnest Byner and the Redskins recovered.

The Browns got off the hook when Williams overthrew a wide-open Ricky Sanders on what should have been a touchdown and the Redskins punted. But the Browns weren’t through self-destructing. Four plays into the drive, Kosar’s pass for Byner was tipped by Charles Mann and intercepted by a diving Mel Kaufman at the Cleveland 49. It was a play eerily reminiscent of Pepper Johnson's deflected pick the previous season.The result was reminiscent too. Williams promptly brought his team into field-goal range with a 21-yard strike to Art Monk and moments later Haji-Sheikh came through again, his 41-yarder giving the Redskins a 13-10 halftime lead.

For Cleveland it was a case of saved by the bell. Washington had handled the Browns on both lines of scrimmage during the second quarter. After their five-yard first period the Redskins had exploded for 158 yards in the second. Cleveland was moving the ball, too. But the two turnovers near the end of the half had shifted the momentum dramatically. All things considered the Browns were lucky not to be down by more. Between drops, penalties, the somewhat wasted first-and-goal and Williams’s overthrow of Sanders, the Redskins had left a healthy number of points off the scoreboard.

Down three, the Browns received the second-half kickoff, having scored touchdowns on their first second-half possession against the Colts and Broncos. After a short Mack run and an incompletion, Byner blasted for fifteen and a first down on a draw play. Lining up wide, Byner then crossed the middle, reeled in Bernie’s accurate pass and got all the way to midfield before being chased down. Working the edges, Kosar found Brennan and Reggie Langhorne for gains that positioned the Browns at the Washington 35.

Earnest Byner, the catalyst, would take it the rest of the way. Cutting off-tackle, Byner got a big block from Tim Manoa, bounced outside, and raced for the pylon. Coming from the opposite side of the field, Darrell Green didn’t quite get there in time- Reggie Langhorne briefly grabbing his jersey didn't help- and Byner crossed the plane to complete the longest run in a Super Bowl since Marcus Allen’s 39-yard jaunt against these same Redskins four years earlier. Matt Bahr’s extra point gave the Browns a 17-13 lead with 11:07 left in the third.

Darkness had descended on Jack Murphy Stadium- and so, too, did the defenses. The next three possessions following Byner’s touchdown resulted in a combined one first down for both teams. A Washington possession ended when Williams underthrew Clark on a deep post and was intercepted by Felix Wright; the ensuing Cleveland drive was short-circuited when Paul Farren tackled Dexter Manley and was hit with a holding penalty and Ozzie Newsome, of all people, dropped a pass that would have resulted in a first down. Washington then turned back to its ground game but backup nose guard Dave Puzzouli slammed Timmy Smith for a loss and a third-down pass to Monk was broken up by Hanford Dixon.

With a minute to play in the third, the Browns got the ball back at their 27 and finally got a drive started. Byner shuffled off-tackle for a short gain and went up the middle for seven yards and a first down. On the first play of the fourth quarter Kosar trundled back and flared one out to Herman Fontenot, who danced out of bounds after a gain of eight. Mack slipped past Dave Butz and dove for the first down and Byner came back again with a gain of five to the Washington 47. After Mack was chopped down for a loss of two Kosar and Brennan picked up the first down with a ten-yard connection.

Cleveland kept pecking away. Byner circled out of the backfield for a short completion and gained four yards on a draw. Mack again moved the chains, carrying Redskins for three yards. After an incompletion Kosar went to Webster Slaughter on an out pattern. When Barry Wilburn went for the interception and missed Slaughter had an open highway down the sideline, and the second-year man from San Diego State motored to the three before being shoved out of bounds.

Two plays later Kosar play-faked and surprised everyone by throwing to backup tight end Derek Tennell. The ex-replacement player gathered the ball in and tumbled to the gold-painted end zone grass, setting off a wild celebration among the big Cleveland contingent at Jack Murphy Stadium and throughout the ranks of Browns Backers worldwide. Bahr’s extra point was right there and with 10:09 to play Cleveland had a seemingly comfortable 24-13 lead. Little did anyone know that this would be perhaps the most exciting fourth quarter ever played in a Super Bowl.

Washington took over at its 29 with an offense that was accruing rust. The Redskins had barely touched the ball in the second half while being outscored 14-0. Needing two touchdowns in the final ten minutes, they needed to get something going immediately. Taking advantage of a soft defensive scheme, Doug Williams began to find receivers underneath the zones. Derided for much of his career as a bomber with no touch, the veteran from Grambling now found his targets with pinpoint accuracy. With 6:48 left, Williams hit a diving Gary Clark in the end zone and the Redskins were back in it, down 24-20 with a lot of football left to be played.

Looking to burn down some clock, Cleveland turned back to its ground game. But the Redskins were ready. On first down Kevin Mack was dropped for a four-yard loss. Mack got three back on second down, but Kosar’s scrambling third-down pass to Newsome was late and nearly intercepted by Monte Coleman. After the punt, Washington was 65 yards from the go-ahead touchdown and had 4:54 to get there.

Their ensuing drive would last one play. On first down Doug Williams tripped over the feet of center Jeff Bostic and lost control of the football. After a tremendous struggle Felix Wright secured it, and the Browns were in business at the Washington 30 with a chance to put the game away. But they couldn’t do it. Three runs netted only seven yards, and worse, Byner allowed himself to be shoved out of bounds on his third-down carry, stopping the clock. Matt Bahr came out for a gut-check 41-yard attempt and drilled it through the posts, making it 27-20 with 3:17 left.

Smelling the tying touchdown, Washington came out throwing. Completions to Didier and Monk moved the ball out to the 49. But on second-and-ten the Browns got the big play when Big Daddy Hairston beat Joe Jacoby and trapped Williams for a seven-yard loss. With the clock sitting at 2:00, the Redskins were facing a third-and-seventeen, still a long way from that tying touchdown.

With four wide receivers on the field, Williams took the snap and looked left. Ricky Sanders took off on the same deep post he had run in the previous quarter to no success. But this time Felix Wright, who’d stayed with Sanders and made the interception, jumped Art Monk’s crossing route. Williams fired deep for Sanders, who had broken off his pattern and sprinted straight upfield, and the ex-USFL man- one of a bunch playing in this game- was three yards ahead of Frank Minnifield when he hauled in the perfectly thrown bomb. Sanders completed the 58-yard play with the ball aloft. The extra point tied it at 27-27 with 1:52 to play.

The Browns, and their fans, were stunned. They’d just seen the lead slip away thanks to a breakdown by perhaps the best secondary in the league. Washington had exploded for two touchdowns in five minutes after doing nothing for more than a quarter. Now Cleveland’s offense had to do something. They had to, at the very least, run out the clock, play for overtime and buy some time for their defense, which had been stunned by the quick-striking Redskins.

In a sense, though, this was familiar territory. Cleveland had played in seven postseason games since 1985. Five, including this one, had come down to either the final moments of regulation or overtime. If any team was used to operating under pressure late in a big game, it was these Browns.

Now, in the biggest game of all, the Browns would try and win it. On first down from the 29, Byner raced eleven yards straight up the middle on a draw play. Kosar threw his next pass out of bounds to avoid a sack, than hit Reggie Langhorne for nine and Fontenot for six. Cleveland took its first timeout with 1:03 remaining and the ball at the Washington 45-yard line.

It appeared that the drive would go up in smoke when Charles Mann chased down Kosar for an eight-yard loss, forcing the Browns to burn another timeout. On the next play Kosar again faded back, looked, was flushed out of the pocket, rolled awkwardly to his right and threw a deep floater for Earnest Byner, who had run a short pattern but broke it off and headed downfield when he saw Kosar in trouble. Getting a step on linebacker Kurt Gouveia, Byner hauled in the soft toss and dove out of bounds at the Washington 28. It was a 26-yard gain and it put the Browns in field-goal range with 48 seconds remaining.

With everything going his way, Marty Schottenheimer turned to his ground game to set up the kick. He got a bigger payoff than he imagined when Kevin Mack bulled up the middle, broke two tackles and plowed ahead for a ten-yard gain. After another Mack carry, this time for one, Cleveland used its last timeout. There was four seconds to play. Matt Bahr, who had played for the Steelers when they won Super Bowl XIV, would now try and bring the Vince Lombardi Trophy to Cleveland with a kick from 35 yards out.

Everything now came down to the execution of one of the most routine plays in pro football: the field goal. Cleveland’s kicking unit had been through its ups and downs during 1987, but this time everything clicked. The snap from Frank Winters was perfect. Mike Pagel’s hold was perfect. Bahr, who had missed most of the season with a leg injury suffered in 1986, stepped into the ball and sent it tumbling toward the goalposts. 73,302 fans at Jack Murphy Stadium and millions more watching on television, including a lot of nerve-wracked Browns fans, watched its progress.

When the ball hit the net behind the goalposts, the Cleveland Browns were 30-27 winners- and World Champions for the first time since 1964.

It had been perhaps the greatest Super Bowl ever played. The official game MVP was Bernie Kosar, who made up for his disappointing performance in Pasadena in a big way: 23-of-30 for 245 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. But the key man was Earnest Byner, who climaxed a sensational playoff run with 114 rushing yards, 67 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Cleveland finished with 393 total yards, gashing the Redskins by land as well as by air.

Washington had plenty of heroes in defeat. Doug Williams turned in a courageous performance, completing 19-of-36 for 266 yards and three touchdowns. Both Gary Clark and Ricky Sanders made big plays in the receiving game- Clark overcoming his early drops with spectacular grabs in the clutch- while Timmy Smith, the one-time fourth-stringer, ran well against Cleveland’s stingy ground defense. The Redskins, despite doing almost nothing in the first and third periods, finished with 375 total yards.

But it wasn’t enough to keep the Browns from their appointment with destiny.