Ed Meyer| Akron Beacon Journal
(Editor's note: The following stories were published in the Akron Beacon Journal on Nov. 9, 1993 after the Browns cut long-time quarterback Bernie Kosar)
The Cleveland Browns' stunning decision Monday, to cut quarterback Bernie Kosar, set off a chain reaction of controversy throughout the organization and the entire National Football League.
The move abruptly ended one of the most successful player careers in Browns history, the career of the hometown hero from Boardman who manipulated all the rules so he could come to Cleveland in 1985 at age 21 in a special college player draft.
Now the team, tied for first place in the AFC's Central Division, turns to Todd Philcox, a seldom-used quarterback who has not thrown a pass all season. Meanwhile, Kosar expects to hear offers from other teams.
Kosar, told of the decision late Monday morning, said by phone from his home in Rocky River: "How ironic is it that my last pass was a 38-yard post pattern for a touchdown, huh?'"
He was referring to the Browns' final score in Sunday's 29-14 loss to Denver in a game that apparently demonstrated to owner Art Modell and Coach Bill Belichick that their quarterback's skills had eroded and he could not take the team where they wanted it to go.
The decision immediately generated strong emotions among fans, Browns and other NFL players and coaches.
In Berea, site of the team's practice complex and headquarters, a half-dozen young fans appeared carrying picket signs within two hours of the announcement. Karen Marks, a 20-year-old Baldwin-Wallace College student from Detroit, carried a sign that said in huge letters: CUT BELICHICK, NOT BERNIE.
"Bernie Kosar is the heart and soul of the Cleveland Browns," Marks said.
Modell said he expected backlash from the fans.
"All I would say to the fans is bear with us. We're doing everything we possibly can do to win. We feel this is the right move, and only time will tell whether our judgment was correct or not."
Others in the NFL shared the fans' surprise.
"It could get very ugly in Cleveland, from the fans' standpoint," said Steelers quarterback Mike Tomczak, Kosar's backup last season. "This is extremely hard to believe. I never thought I'd see this."
"Who's the quarterback? Who's the backup?" Steelers All-Pro cornerback Rod Woodson said. "I can't believe this. I guess they felt like they've got to blame somebody, so they got to blame Bernie."
There is only one opinion, only one evaluation that matters in the Browns organization, players said Monday.
It belongs to Belichick.
Challenge him or question him and you're gone.
That was the overwhelming feeling in the locker room at the Browns facility in Berea.
Defensive tackle Michael Dean Perry said: "It doesn't matter what I think, what the media thinks, what the fans think. The only thing that matters is what Bill Belichick thinks. He's the head man. He has the power, and if he feels like Bernie's skills have diminished, then it's his decision. There's nothing I can say or do to change that."
"Bill's the man," defensive end Rob Burnett said. "He's got the last word, period. He has been given a lot of power, and he's using it. It's Bill's show. Obviously, it's his way or the highway."
Belichick and Modell both said the overriding reason Kosar was cut was that his physical skills had diminished.
"Personally," running back Leroy Hoard said, "I don't think he's lost his skills. I don't think this is about diminishing skills. This is about Bill wanting to go a certain way, and so that's what he chose to do."
In the last two weeks, Belichick has cut three veterans who were widely respected by the players -- cornerback Everson Walls, linebacker David Brandon and now Kosar. All three were starters. All three made big money. And then suddenly they were gone.
Asked if the sudden changes were an ominous trend for other high-salaried veterans, of which he is one, middle linebacker Mike Johnson said: "If it is, then maybe I'd better watch my back."
Johnson said he saw Kosar at the facility shortly after the quarterback got the news from Belichick and Modell.
"When he told me what happened," Johnson said, "I was totally shocked. I thought he was joking. Guys joke like that all the time. Then I found out he wasn't joking at all. It was really surprising, to say the least."
Kosar was unable to say very much as he left the facility, Johnson said, "because I think he was really hurt."
Belichick, Johnson said, told all of the players in a team meeting that he made the decision because he felt Kosar's skills had diminished.
Tackle Tony Jones, who has been a starter on the offensive line since 1990, said it didn't really matter to him if anyone felt Kosar's skills had diminished.
"All I know," Jones said, "is that he can play. He's a warrior, he's a player, he's a close friend."
Jones called Kosar "a great leader who will be missed. I've been through so many battles with No. 19, it's going to be hard going out there without him. I don't know what went on between Bill and Bernie. That's between them."
"All I know is that Bernie was a big part of this offense. He knew the offense as well as anybody around here. He was definitely our leader."
Wide receiver Michael Jackson, who earlier in the season criticized Belichick's handling of Kosar, would not comment Monday.
Jackson, Kosar's go-to guy all season, had four catches for 86 yards and two touchdowns in the Denver game.
It most likely will not be Kosar's last pass in the NFL. Within hours of his release, he said he already had been contacted by two teams interested in signing him -- the Kansas City Chiefs of Marty Schottenheimer, ex-coach of the Browns, and Don Shula's Miami Dolphins.
Under the NFL's new rules, Kosar will become a free agent at 4 p.m. today provided that he clears the waiver process, a virtual certainty.
If any team claims Kosar on waivers, it must assume the terms of the multiyear, $27 million contract he formally signed with the Browns on Sept. 28.
In a phone conversation from his home, Kosar said he got a call from Jackson. "He told me: 'Don't let anyone get you down. I know you can still play. I know you can still throw the ball.' That meant a lot."
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Family unanimous in its disgust over Kosar's firing
Bernie Kosar's family listened in disgust Monday, to the live broadcast of the press conference at which Browns owner Art Modell said his goodbyes to the 29-year-old quarterback.
"It was pitiful," Beth Kosar Forward said. "My pet peeve was when he said: 'I love Bernie like a son,' and then he's saying Ko-zar. Our last name is Ko-sar. If he's known him so well for 10 years, then he should know his last name by now.
"If he really cared about Bernie, and he had no qualms about releasing him, then he should have just told him. It should have been done before the season began, before training camp began. And then he could have been a man about it. But you can't teach people how to be classy."
The reason her brother was released, Forward said, was his troubled relationship with Coach Bill Belichick.
Forward said Modell wants everyone to think that the environment at the fenced and guarded facility in Berea "is just a perfect little place to go every morning."
Kosar's mother Geri said she was 'shocked' by the news and could not say much more.
Kosar's father, Bernie Sr., said: "It's kind of like the girl who says: 'I don't love you anymore.' It's shattering."
At the press conference, Modell and Belichick both said Kosar was cut because of his diminishing physical skills.
"I can't say enough about Bernie Kosar," Modell said. "Bernie Kosar was like a son to me. He often referred to me as his surrogate father."
The 29-14 loss to Denver was the Browns' third defeat in the last five games, but they still are in first place in the AFC Central Division with a 5-3 record and eight games to play.
Modell said he first expressed his concerns to Belichick last December when Kosar came back from a serious ankle injury. In the season finale, a loss in Pittsburgh, Kosar reinjured the same ankle and underwent the first surgery of his football career.
Modell said he was concerned because "maybe we were pushing Bernie back too early."
However, later in the press conference Modell said Kosar's physical problems began in the 1988 opener when he suffered an injury to the elbow of his throwing arm on a safety blitz by Kansas City's Lloyd Burruss.
