Browns Make Their Own Drive, Beat Broncos

It was an all too familiar script against the Denver Broncos for the Cleveland Browns--a critical fumble leading to a last-minute drive.

Only this time, the Broncos fumbled and Bernie Kosar, not John Elway, led the game-winning drive, which culminated with Matt Bahr’s 48-yard field goal on the final play to give the Browns a 16-13 victory Sunday.

“I think we’ve finally purged that ghost,” Bahr said of 10 consecutive losses to Denver, including two in AFC championship games.

“In recent years, we’ve had to live with ‘The Drive’ (a 98-yarder led by Elway in the 1986 championship game) and ‘The Fumble’ (by Cleveland’s Earnest Byner in the closing minutes of the 1987 championship game). It was nice that in one game, we could get both a drive and a fumble.”

Denver (3-1) was on the verge of breaking the tie with under two minutes left when Sammy Winder fumbled and the Browns (3-1) recovered at the Cleveland 16-yard-line. Kosar completed five-of-six passes for 62 yards in the last 1:49 to set up Bahr’s winning field goal.

The teams switched goals early in the fourth quarter because the Broncos, at their own four-yard-line, were being pelted by debris thrown by fans in the Cleveland bleachers. That put the wind at Bahr’s back for the winning kick.

“We were backed up and thought about just trying to get into overtime,” Kosar said. “But it was time for the offense to do something.”

Kosar nearly doomed the Browns by throwing an interception to Marc Munford at the Cleveland 33 with 3:36 to play. It was the first pass interception for Kosar in 181 attempts since last November, but Winder was stripped of the ball by linebacker Mike Johnson and Frank Minnifield recovered.

“Johnson just shot up the middle pretty much and did a good job of getting his hands on the ball,” Winder said.

The Browns limited Elway to six completions, his lowest total since his rookie season in 1983, in 19 attempts. He was sacked four times.

Elway’s fourth completion was a 53-yarder to Steve Sewell that put the ball at the Cleveland six.

Elway hit Vance Johnson with a seven-yard touchdown pass for a 13-13 tie with 3:58 left.

“It was a big game, and maybe Lady Luck was on their side for a change,” Elway said. “They’ve got a pressure defense that showed us a lot of fronts.

“The toughest thing with the reads was the pressure we were getting. I had to get back and get rid of the ball. I couldn’t run, because they had me hemmed in all day.”

Kosar finished with 25 completions in 38 attempts for 216 yards. He also scrambled four times for 33 yards, including a career-high 23-yard run.

Elway’s fumble set up Cleveland’s only touchdown, a nine-yard pass from Kosar to Webster Slaughter to make it 7-0 in the first quarter.

Bahr also kicked field goals of 36 and 48 yards. David Treadwell kicked field goals of 21 and 26 yards for Denver and has made nine without a miss this season.