DEREK ANDERSON (left) of the Browns congratulates Jerome Harrison after Harrison ran in for a one-yard touchdown in the first quarter against the Chicago Bears on Thursday at Cleveland Browns Stadium. AP / Associated Press
Star Beacon
Published August 29, 2008 02:39 am - CLEVELAND — If you were a fan, you may have nodded off during the Browns’ latest loss, 16-10 to the Bears, which left them with their second winless preseason in 58 years.
Zip for four Bears finish Browns’ winless preseason
STEVE DOERSCHUK Canton Repository
CLEVELAND — If you were a fan, you may have nodded off during the Browns’ latest loss, 16-10 to the Bears, which left them with their second winless preseason in 58 years.
If you were a backup player or a coach, this was rousing stuff.
With four minutes left in the third quarter, and with even the Dawg Pound running at one-third occupancy, a Browns cornerback many fans never heard of, Travis Daniels, broke up a deep sideline pass to a former Round 2 pick who has been a Bears bust, Mark Bradley.
The pass was thrown by rookie Caleb “Who’s He” Hanie; yet, Daniels, probably headed for the No. 4 cornerback job, made a vintage Deion Sanders gesture — incomplete — worthy of the Dallas drama queens coming to town Sept. 7.
Coach Romeo Crennel came in with a minimum expectation of “looking decent.” His patchwork first-team offense exceeded that standard, building a 10-0 lead behind quarterback Brady Quinn (7-of-9, 65 yards).
“We were happy with being able to drive the length of the field twice, right out of the gate,” left tackle Joe Thomas said. “That was important to get a little bit of momentum back.”
Crennel’s view of that segment:
“I wanted us to look decent, and I thought we did.”
The rest of the game served only to demonstrate what dire straits the Browns will reach if both Derek Anderson and Quinn are down at the same time.
No. 3 QB Ken Dorsey quickly lost the 10-0 lead, demonstrating his weak arm on a deep throw toward a wide-open Lance Leggett, a fellow former Miami Hurricane who needed major drama to avoid Saturday’s final cutdown to 53.
A touchdown would have reversed Chicago’s 13-10 lead as the Browns bid to avoid only their second winless preseason in history (they were 0-6 in 1972).
They were trying to finish 1-3. Then, they could have stretched a point and noted that the last time the Browns reached an AFC title game, 1989, the preseason record was 1-4. The last of Paul Brown’s three NFL championships as Cleveland’s head coach came in 1955, when the preseason record was 1-5.
Debate all you want about what Thursday’s preseason finale meant. There’s no question it wasn’t supposed to mean more injuries.
Quarterback Derek Anderson already was out a second straight game with a concussion. Asked if he thinks Quinn will be ready for the Dallas game, Quinn paused and said, “Yeah, I would say so, but that’s something that Romeo and D.A. would be better to answer.”
Crennel would only say “nope” when asked if he knows if Anderson is likely to face Dallas.