CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – “There’s a gleam, men. There’s a gleam. Let’s get the gleam, alright!”
For Clevelanders too young to remember the 1964 NFL champions, Marty Schottenheimer’s Browns were as good as it got.
His 80’s Browns were the 90’s Indians.
Four playoff appearances, three AFC Central division titles and two agonizing defeats in the AFC championship game followed his ascension from defensive coordinator to head coach midway through the 1984 season.
In the words of Charles Dickens: “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.”
It seemed like there was a new Browns-related song on the radio every week. ‘Bernie, Bernie’ lives on to this day.
A no no today, batteries and dog biscuits, among other things, flew from Hanford Dixon’s ‘Dawg Pound’ every Sunday at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium while Schottenheimer patrolled the sideline.
A sea of 70,000-plus covered in brown and orange packed the old lady by the lake as Schottenheimer’s success turning the Browns around rekindled hope 1964 would not be the last time a championship would be celebrated.
The football gods were cruel.
Hope crushed by defeat.
The Drive and The Fumble followed, smothering those dreams.
So close, yet so far away.
Schottenheimer, hired as defensive coordinator in 1980, took over a 1-7 team halfway through the 1984 season when he replaced Sam Rutigliano as head coach. The Browns split their final eight games to finish 5-11, but the franchise took off from there.
In 1985 the Browns went 8-8 with Bernie Kosar taking over at quarterback and they won their first division title under Schottenheimer with Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner both rushing for over 1,000 yards.
The 1986 season was magical. The Browns went 12-4. They beat the Jets in double overtime, 23-20, in the playoffs to advance to the AFC championship game against John Elway and the Denver Broncos.
Fast forward to 1987, they won their final three games to finish 10-5, atop the division once again. In the playoffs the Browns avenged a 9-7 early December loss to the Colts, beating them by 17, 38-21, setting up a rematch with the Broncos, this time in Denver with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.
Despite going 10-6 and being ravished by injuries, the Browns finished second in the division the following year and a Wild Card loss to Houston in 1988 led to former owner Art Modell and Schottenheimer parting ways.
The Browns went 44-27 under Schottenheimer. He holds the third-best winning percentage (.620) of any Browns head coach who coached multiple seasons and his 44 wins are the fourth-most in franchise history.
After his unceremonious departure, Schottenheimer kept winning everywhere he went – Kansas City, Washington and the Chargers. He had a 12-win season with the Browns, two 13-win seasons with the Chiefs and a 14-win season with the Chargers.
Schottenheimer piled up eleven 10-win seasons, had just two losing seasons in 21 years and made 13 playoff appearances over his distinguished coaching career.
But it all started in Cleveland.
In a moment of honesty, any former Brown from that era will tell you how much they regret not getting to the big game for the fans, but even more for Schottenheimer.
Schottenheimer’s success over those unforgettable 4 ½ years remained the beacon of light, the gleam, for long suffering fans throughout the dreadful post-1999 expansion era.
Maybe we are finally entering a new golden era of Browns football led by Kevin Stefanski with Baker Mayfield, Jarvis Landry, Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward et all, but for many in Cleveland too young to remember that 1964 title team, ‘Marty ball’ was the golden age.
Thanks for the memories, coach, and for keeping that gleam burning bright.