How Elite Were They? #51- Bernie Kosar’s 12-win 1986 Season

Originally published on May 14, 2025

By Zane Miller

Before being drafted with the first overall pick of the NFL’s Supplemental Draft in 1985 by the Cleveland Browns, quarterback Bernie Kosar had already dealt with controversy surrounding his NFL eligibility before his pro football career even had a chance to start.

After leading the Miami Hurricanes to a national title in 1983 and leading the NCAA in passing yards in 1984, Kosar had already established himself as one of the best available college quarterbacks and attempted to declare for the NFL Draft in 1985. The problem with that was that Kosar was still in his sophomore year of school and therefore not yet eligible for the main draft, but Kosar was aware of this rule and set up a plan to complete the required classes early. However, another twist came into play when it was revealed that the Browns (the team Kosar had grown up rooting for) had secured the first overall pick of the Supplemental Draft. It is believed that, upon learning this, Kosar intentionally missed the deadline to officially apply for the main draft so he could instead be taken by his favorite team in the Supplemental Draft held two months later. This affected the Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) and Minnesota Vikings, who had already completed a draft pick trade with the belief that Kosar would indeed be on the board. Nonetheless, the plan worked and Kosar was a Brown for the 1985 season. Understandably, the NFL later changed their procedures to where the order for the Supplemental Draft could not be revealed until after the main draft.

With that mess now behind him, Kosar started out as a backup to veteran quarterback Gary Danielson. However, Danielson went down with a shoulder injury in an October 6^th game against the New England Patriots and Kosar filled in admirably, leading the Browns to the win. Kosar started all but one game the rest of the way and, although Cleveland missed the playoffs with an 8-8 record, he did well enough to earn the starting job for the 1986 season. He took immediately took full advantage of the opportunity.

Despite the Browns losing their opening game to the Chicago Bears on September 7^th, it wasn’t for the lack of passing offense as Kosar threw for a touchdown and 289 yards as the team came up short 41-31. He continued to put up solid numbers throughout the first half of the season but the Browns as a whole looked similar to last year’s team, maintaining a 5-3 record thanks to a pair of home losses to the Cincinnati Bengals and Green Bay Packers. On November 2^nd against the Indianapolis Colts, though, both Kosar and the team would find a new gear. In the 24-9 win at the Hoosier Dome, Kosar passed for a season-high three touchdowns along with 238 passing yards to keep the Colts winless to that point in the year.

The next week, the Browns came back to Cleveland for their matchup against the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football. Kosar had a stellar performance despite the lack of any passing touchdowns, as he not only had the first 300-yard game of his NFL career, but crossed the 400-yard mark as well with 401 yards through the air. Despite the Browns’ struggles in the red zone, as kicker Matt Bahr was brought on for five field goal attempts from inside the 20, they still held off the Dolphins for the 26-16 win.

Although Kosar struggled the next week in a disappointing 27-14 loss to the Los Angeles (now Las Vegas) Raiders where he threw for only 188 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions, this would be the Browns’ final loss of the regular season. November 23^rd would see a barnburner at Cleveland Municipal Stadium against the Pittsburgh Steelers, where the Browns claimed the lead four different times but the Steelers were there to respond and tie the game back up each time. A last-minute Steelers field goal sent the game into overtime, but Kosar would score the game winner as he found rookie wide receiver Webster Slaughter for a 36-yard strike. In the 37-31 triumph, Kosar picked up a career-high 414 passing yards with two touchdowns, Slaughter being his favorite target with 134 yards to go along with the overtime-winning touchdown grab.

Cleveland eked out another overtime win just one week later, this time beating the Oilers 13-10, followed up by a one-possession win against the Buffalo Bills before taking blowout victories over the Bengals and San Diego (now Los Angeles) Chargers to close out the regular season. Kosar started every game of Cleveland’s impressive 12-4 season, passing for 17 touchdowns and 3,854 yards in the process. His passing TD totals put him in a tie for 11^th in the NFL with Packers quarterback and one-year wonder Randy Wright, while the nearly 4,000 passing yards placed him fourth in that department, 105 behind Cincinnati’s Boomer Esiason.

Thanks to their strong finish, the Browns claimed the AFC Central crown and the #1 seed in the conference. As such, they would host the wild-card New York Jets in the divisional round on January 3^rd as the calendar rolled over to 1987. The Jets started off with a touchdown, but the Browns responded on their next possession as Kosar found running back Herman Fontenot for a 37-yard touchdown pass to tie the game 7-7. After the teams exchanged field goals to end the first half, the Jets defense (which had been among the worst in the league in the regular season) started playing lights out in the second half. The Browns could not get anything going offensively, which allowed New York to jump ahead with a third quarter field goal. With less than five minutes to play, the Jets took advantage of a Kosar interception to add another touchdown and make it a 10-point game.

The Cleveland offense continued stumbling to start their next possession, with an incomplete pass setting up a 3^rd-and-24 situation. However, the Browns would be granted an automatic first down thanks to a roughing the passer call, and the second chance led to a short touchdown run to cut the lead to three. Needing a stop with less than two minutes to play, the Browns defense would give them just that as three Jets runs went nowhere. Getting the ball back with less than a minute to go in regulation, Kosar and company wasted no time in getting downfield. First, the team got 25 free yards on a pass interference penalty against the Jets, before Kosar connected with Slaughter for a 37-yard gain. The Browns suddenly found themselves at the five-yard line but, with no timeouts remaining and only having a handful of seconds to work with, coach Marty Schottenheimer opted to forgo the touchdown and settle for a game-tying field goal from longtime Washington Redskins (now Washington Commanders) kicker Mark Moseley.

The Jets got the ball first in overtime but were held to a three-and-out, and the Browns appeared to be on their way to the AFC championship game after a 35-yard pass from Kosar to wide receiver Reggie Langhorne set up a chip shot field goal. However, Moseley missed the kick wide right and the game continued. Undaunted, the Cleveland defense bailed out the team by forcing two more Jets punts. The clock ran out on the first overtime period, making just the third game in NFL history to require multiple overtimes, but not before the Browns were able to get into field goal range. A 15-yard rush by running back Kevin Mack put the team into the red zone, followed by a couple more successful runs to line up another chip shot field goal try. Moseley made no mistake with his chance at redemption, drilling the 27-yarder for the 23-20 double overtime win. In the game later known as the “Marathon by the Lake”, Kosar passed for a then-playoff record 489 yards and a touchdown against a pair of interceptions. Quarterback Pat Ryan started the contest for New York and threw for 103 yards and a touchdown in the first half, but was knocked out of the game with a groin injury. Ken O’Brien went the rest of the way for the Jets, getting 134 yards through the air with no touchdowns.

The Browns kept their home field advantage for the conference title game against the AFC West-winning Denver Broncos on January 11^th. The teams were deadlocked 10-10 at halftime, but a short Denver field goal in the third quarter again put the Browns at a three-point deficit going into the final frame of regulation. On their first possession of the fourth quarter, Cleveland worked their way into the red zone but were unable to finish the drive, settling for a short field goal instead to tie it up. Despite this, Cleveland’s defense showed up once again by making the Broncos go three-and-out twice, enabling Kosar to score the go-ahead touchdown on a 48-yard pass to third wide receiver Brian Brennan with 5:43 left in regulation.

After a botched kick return forced the Broncos to start the ensuing drive at their own two-yard line, quarterback John Elway led the team on “The Drive”, which culminated in a game-tying touchdown pass to rookie wide receiver Mark Jackson with 39 seconds left. In overtime, the Browns won the coin toss and got the ball first, but failed to get much traction and punted it away. Fueled by their 98-yard scoring drive, Denver marched down the field yet again with a 22-yard completion from Elway to rookie tight end Orson Mobley and a 28-yard catch by longtime wide receiver Steve Watson. This set up a 33-yard field goal attempt, which kicker Rich Karlis converted on to send the Broncos to Super Bowl XXI and end the Browns’ season. Kosar scored two passing touchdowns and 259 passing yards in the 23-20 loss, but also gave up two interceptions. Elway had one touchdown and 244 yards through the air to go along with just one interception.

Although Kosar never again reached 12 wins in a season, he was still a mainstay under center for the Browns for the next several years. He had perhaps his best statistical season in 1987, where he placed third in the running for Offensive Player of the Year with 3,033 passing yards and a career-best 22 touchdowns while missing three games as a result of the players’ strike. The Browns went on to win the AFC Central and rematch with the Broncos in the conference championship, but again came up just short with a 38-33 loss. Kosar led Cleveland to another AFC Central title in 1989, but the team would struggle in the early 1990s. His last full season as a starter came in 1991, as he suffered a season-ending broken ankle midway through the 1992 season. After being benched in favor of Vinny Testaverde in 1993, Kosar was released by the Browns and found himself on the Dallas Cowboys as the backup to Troy Aikman. The Cowboys were in much better shape than the Browns at this time, as they claimed the NFC East crown with a 12-4 record. Kosar did not see the field for the bulk of the Cowboys’ playoff run, but got some playing time after Aikman left the NFC championship game against the San Francisco 49ers due to a concussion. Kosar maintained Dallas’ lead with 83 passing yards and a long touchdown pass to wide receiver Alvin Harper, punching their Super Bowl XXVIII ticket with a 38-21 victory.

Aikman was back in the lineup two weeks later at Atlanta’s Georgia Dome, as the Cowboys were poised to win back-to-back Super Bowls for the first time in franchise history. To do so, they would need to get through the AFC champion Bills for the second year in a row. Kosar mostly stayed on the sideline as Dallas took care of business 30-13, but did take the field in victory formation for the final kneel down. After the tumultuous season ended with Kosar capturing his first Super Bowl ring, he joined up with the Dolphins for 1994 to back up another future Hall of Fame quarterback in Dan Marino. Kosar only made a total of two starts during his three seasons with Miami, but this span included the team’s AFC East triumph in 1994. Coincidentally, the final start of his career occurred in 1995, the final year of the Browns franchise prior to their four-year long hiatus. Kosar only appeared in three contests in 1996 and announced his retirement after the season, finishing his pro career in the same city as his college career with 53 regular season wins to his credit.

Upon retiring, Kosar remained invested in Miami area sports teams, as he purchased a large ownership share of the NHL’s Florida Panthers prior to the 2001-02 season. Unfortunately, during his tenure the Panthers were a quite lackluster team on the ice, missing the playoffs in each of his seven seasons as part-owner. The main highlight was a 2008-09 campaign which saw Florida nearly qualify for the final postseason spot in the Eastern Conference, losing out in a tiebreaker with the Montreal Canadiens. Kosar and business partner Alan Cohen sold the team during the 2009-10 season.

Additionally, Kosar was instrumental in bringing an Arena Football League team back to Cleveland for the first time since 1994, as he became team president and minority owner of the Cleveland Gladiators before the 2008 season, with the team previously playing in Las Vegas. The franchise bounced back from a horrendous 2-14 season in 2007, going 9-7 and reaching the National Conference championship game. However, they came up a game short of reaching the ArenaBowl, falling to the Philadelphia Soul 70-35. The Gladiators did not play in 2009 due to the AFL filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but returned for the 2010 season. The team had its best season with Kosar in 2011, as they finished 10-8 and held off the Pittsburgh Power by one game to win the American Conference East division title. This did not translate into playoff success sadly, as the Gladiators were eliminated in the first round by the Georgia Force. In 2012, the team was sold to Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and Kosar was replaced by Kerry Bubolz as team president. To go along with his team ownership endeavors, Kosar also owned a local restaurant chain named “Bernie’s Steakhouse” in the Miami area from the late 1990’s until 2008, followed by a single location under the name “Kosar’s Wood-Fired Grill” in Northfield, Ohio, a suburb of Akron, from 2013 to 2023. In 2001, Kosar was named to the inaugural class of Cleveland Browns Legends.