Kosar Has Really Had It Tough : Pro football: Elway has complained about Denver. He should only see the kind of season Bernie Kosar has experienced at Cleveland.

John Elway thinks he has had it tough.

When the dust settles Sunday, Elway should have a heart-to-heart with Bernie Kosar, the fifth-year quarterback of the Cleveland Browns.

Elway sounded off at midseason about how horrible it is to play in Denver, where he feels that media and public scrutiny make it difficult to do his job.

Chatting with Kosar could perhaps put things in perspective for Elway. Indignities suffered by Kosar this season include:

-- His benching during the fourth quarter of a 21-0 loss to Cincinnati at Cleveland.

-- Playing through pain with a bruised elbow since Nov. 12.

-- A 24-hour telephone poll conducted by Cleveland ABC-TV affiliate WEWS after the Cincinnati game asking fans who should be the Browns starter, Kosar or backup Mike Pagel. Pagel led most of the day, and Kosar only pulled it out at the end, by a 51 percent-49 percent margin.

-- After the loss to the Bengals, Cleveland coach Bud Carson declined to reaffirm Kosar’s status as the starter for the following week’s contest against the Indianapolis Colts. Kosar ended up starting, but observers say Kosar is still smarting over that lack of support from his coach.

It may be tough for Elway to enjoy a beer in public, but no one has ever seriously suggested that Gary Kubiak replace Elway, and Denver coach Dan Reeves’ support of Elway has never been less than 100 percent.

Carson, with his team one step from the Super Bowl, is now unequivocal in his support of Kosar.

“What’s inside him is probably what sets him apart from a lot” of NFL quarterbacks, Carson said last week.

But it’s not as if the relationship between the two has become close.

“He doesn’t tell me any more than he does anyone else -- and that’s not very much,” Carson said. “But what more can you say about a guy but that, when you’ve really got to have him, he’s there.”

Take, for example, the Browns’ heart-stopping 34-30 playoff victory over the Buffalo Bills. The Browns withstood a 405-yard, four-touchdown performance by Jim Kelly, and Kosar was a big part of the reason why.

Kosar threw for 251 yards, but connected on 20 of 29 attempts, and didn’t throw an interception. Kelly had two, one of which killed what could have been a winning Bills’ drive.

For the season, Kosar was the fourth-rated quarterback in the AFC with an 80.3 rating. Elway was a distant ninth, at 73.7.

Perhaps the most telling statistic about Kosar is this: The Browns have not missed the playoffs since he came to Cleveland from the University of Miami as a rookie in 1985.

But Kosar declined a chance to take the credit.

“I’m a big believer that the team is the reason,” he said. “I’ve never been one to want or to search out that credit.

“The quarterback naturally receives a lot of credit in the good times and a lot of the blame in the bad times, none of which is really fair.

“That just seems to be the way it happens.”

Kosar has been hearing the inevitable comparisons with Elway, since they began their January rendezvous in the playoffs.

“I don’t get too caught up in rating quarterbacks,” he said, “dropping myself in the pecking order of quarterbacks.

“I just try to go out and do the best I can and give it my all.”

And he dismissed the notion that the AFC Championship game could come down to who shines the brightest: he or Elway.

“I’m not convinced that the game comes down to one player,” he said. “When you’ve got 45 guys on your team, you never know in a close, tight playoff game, who it’s going to come down to.”

Growing up in Ohio, it was Kosar’s dream to wear the Browns uniform.

He said that hasn’t changed.

“There’s no question where I wanted to play, where I want to play, and where I want to finish playing,” Kosar said.