Moment 40 - The Fumble

10.16.2006

It had been a year and six days since the Browns' devastating 23-20 overtime loss to Denver in the 1986 AFC Championship Game.

For every day of that time -- actually, even for every hour, every minute, every second -- the Browns had waited for another crack at quarterback John Elway and the Broncos. They thought it was going to come on Sept. 28, 1987 on a Monday Night Football game in Cleveland. But a players' strike had caused the contest to be canceled.

Their chance at revenge finally came Jan. 17, 1988 at Mile High Stadium when the clubs met in the 1987 AFC Championship Game. This is what the Browns really wanted, if the truth be told. A regular-season win over the Broncos would have been nice, but beating them in the playoffs -- turning the tables on them in the title game -- would have been much, much sweeter.

The Browns figured they'd end up here eventually. The road to the Super Bowl went through Denver. They knew it. The Broncos knew it. Everyone knew it.

And finally, here the Browns were, on the doorstep of making that elusive first Super Bowl trip once again. But to get there, they had to work their way past a team that had bedeviled them the year before.

The Browns thought they were ready. They had suffered immeasurably from that 1986 loss. They had learned from it -- were hardened by it, motivated by it.

This time, they were certain they would win.

And they almost did.

But once more, it was the Broncos -- not the Browns -- making the big plays late, when it counted the most, to prevail 38-33.

Yes, things were different in a lot of respects this time.

In 1986, the Browns had the game won and let it slip away. In 1987, the Browns had battled from way behind to make a game of it and were trying to tie it at the end.

In 1986, the contest had gone overtime, whereas the one in '87 did not.

In 1986, tough defense made it a relatively low-scoring game. In 1987, it was the offenses that dominated.

The list of differences goes on and on. But despite all that, the result in 1987 was same as it had been in '86.

The Browns still lost.

They still lost by a close score.

They still lost down the stretch.

They still lost in gut-wrenching, sickening fashion.

And, just like the year before when The Drive became emblazoned in their memories, once again two words would tell the whole story -- describe their misery, spell out in detail their frustration and disgust.

The Fumble.

But before we say another word, let us be clear in pointing out that Earnest Byner was trying merely to tie the game, not win it, when he coughed the ball up at the Denver 3 with just over a minute left. The Broncos had not been stopped all day -- they had put together a 75-yard drive for a touchdown just four minutes before -- so even if Byner had scored, Elway and his buddies still would have had plenty of time to drive back down the field and get a score of their own to win it.

In addition, the Browns would not have been in the game at the end had it not been for Byner. They would have long since been blown out by that point.

Byner had picked up the Browns and carried them on his shoulders that day. He had caught a game-high seven passes for 120 yards and a TD. He had rushed 15 times for 67 yards and another score.

In the third quarter, when the Browns were getting bludgeoned 28-10, he scored his two TDs just 3:15 apart to put them back into contention.

Yes, Byner fumbled the ball at an unbelievably critical juncture of the game. Yes, it stuck a knife right through the Browns' hearts, killing off any chance they had to win. Yes, it is something he -- and Browns fans -- will remember forever. It is, unfortunately, part of his legacy.

But to make a blanket statement that the Browns lost simply because of Byner is about as far from the truth as the elevation of Denver, dubbed "The Mile-High City," is far from that of New Orleans, which sets below sea level.

As mentioned, the flow of this game was completely different than that of the 1986 title contest. Instead of being a close, back-and-forth affair, it had wild swings.

The Broncos got the momentum early, scoring two touchdowns in the first 11:06 to jump ahead 14-0 as Elway threw eight yards to wide receiver Ricky Nattiel and Steve Sewell ran one yard.

The first TD was set up when defensive end Freddie Gilbert intercepted a Bernie Kosar pass. The other score was made possible when the Browns, after forcing Elway to throw an incomplete pass on third-and-goal from the Cleveland 3, were penalized for holding. The TD came on the next play.

Matt Bahr kicked a 24-yard field to cut the deficit to 14-3 with 13:19 left in the second quarter, then the Broncos went to work again, increasing the margin to 21-3 on Gene Lang's one-yard run five minutes later.

Free safety Felix Wright intercepted Elway four plays into the second half, setting up wide receiver Reggie Langhorne's 18-pass scoring pass from Kosar with 11:16 left in the third quarter to make it 21-10.

It became 28-10 less than a minute and a half later, though, when Elway and Mark Jackson combined on an 80-yard scoring play made possibly by several missed tackles.

That's when Byner and the Browns really went to work. He got his two TDs on a 32-yard pass from Kosar and a four-yard run to make it 28-24 with 3:45 remaining in the third quarter.

Rich Karlis, whose field goal had beaten the Browns to win the 1986 championship game, booted a 38-yarder with 10 seconds left in the quarter to bulk the lead to 31-24.

Kosar passed four yards to wide receiver Webster Slaughter to tie the game at 31-31 with 10:48 left in the fourth quarter, but the Broncos answered with Elway's 20-yard pass to running back Sammy Winder nearly seven minutes later to get the lead again at 38-31.

The Browns took the ensuing kickoff and, on a near-picture-perfect drive that relied greatly on the skills of Byner, got to the Denver 8 with 1:12 left. Byner ran to the 3 on the next play, where he was stripped of the ball by Jeremiah Castille. The little-known cornerback also made the recovery there.

The Broncos smartly took an intentional safety to account for the Browns' final points and, more importantly, eat up precious seconds.

Denver had done it to the Browns again with a dramatic victory. But this time, instead of the Cleveland defense wondering what had happened, as it had done after allowing the Broncos to drive 98 yards for the tying score late in regulation in the 1986 title game, it was the members of the offense -- especially Earnest Byner -- who walked off the field scratching their heads and wondering, "What if?"

And as is the case with the 1986 championship game, those former Browns players and longtime fans are still wondering the same thing.