Bernie Kosar

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Bernie Kosar
Kosar was a fan favorite during his career with the Cleveland Browns
Date of birth	November 25, 1963 (age 43)
Place of birth	Youngstown, Ohio
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight	214 lb (97 kg)
Position(s)	QB
College	University of Miami
Career Highlights
Pro Bowls	1987
Stats
Statistics	Pro Football Reference DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1985–1993 1993 1994–1996	Cleveland Browns Dallas Cowboys Miami Dolphins

Bernie Joseph Kosar, Jr. (born November 25, 1963 in Youngstown, Ohio) is a former American football quarterback who played for the Cleveland Browns from 1985 to 1993 and then finished his career with stints with the Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins.

He is also called bernardo the bear.

Contents 1 Boardman High School career 2 University of Miami career 3 NFL career 3.1 Cleveland Browns 3.2 Dallas Cowboys 3.3 Miami Dolphins 4 Retirement from athletics 5 Career Stats 5.1 NFL Regular season 5.2 NFL Post season 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Boardman High School career

Born in Youngstown, Ohio, Kosar was raised in Youngstown's suburb, Boardman. He attended Boardman High School, where he earned Parade Magazine All-American honors as a senior for the 1981 season. He was also a renowned baseball player, known for pitching.

[edit] University of Miami career

Kosar chose to play collegiate football at the University of Miami, which ran a passing-oriented offense and was beginning to emerge as one of the top football programs in the nation.

After being redshirted in 1982, Kosar started all 12 games as a freshman in 1983. He completed 61.5 percent of his passes for 2,328 yards and 15 touchdowns, leading the Hurricanes to an 11–1 regular season and a berth in the Orange Bowl against top-ranked Nebraska, which had won 22 consecutive games. In the game, Kosar passed for 300 yards and two touchdowns, and the Hurricanes topped the Cornhuskers 31–30 for Miami’s first national championship.

Becoming a national celebrity, Kosar did not disappoint in 1984. He set Hurricane records with 3,642 yards and 25 touchdowns, was a second-team All-American and finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting. Kosar’s career completion percentage of 62.3 percent is still a Hurricanes record.

Under National Football League rules at the time, only seniors and graduates could be drafted. Amazingly, despite all the time he spent with the football team, Kosar was about to graduate a year early from the University of Miami's business school with a double major in finance and economics. Kosar wanted to play for the Browns, his hometown team, but the Minnesota Vikings, who also wanted him, had an earlier pick in the NFL draft.

The Browns convinced Kosar to wait until after the draft to declare himself eligible for the pros. He could then be chosen in a special supplemental draft. The Browns traded four regular draft picks to the Buffalo Bills in exchange for the first choice in the supplemental draft. The trade was controversial, forcing the NFL to later close this loophole in supplemental-draft rules.

[edit] NFL career

[edit] Cleveland Browns

Kosar's choice of the Browns, who were coming off a 5–11 season, made him an immediate fan favorite. His friendliness with fans and on-field performance would make him one of the most popular players in team history.

Kosar was not the most athletic man to play quarterback. He was famously immobile and threw with an ugly half-sidearm motion. However, his accuracy was unmatched, and he rarely forced throws or made bad decisions. In 1990 and 1991, Kosar set a league record by throwing 308 consecutive passes without an interception.

The Browns intended Kosar to serve as Gary Danielson's backup in Kosar's rookie season, but Danielson injured his shoulder in the fifth week. Kosar completed only half of his passes in the team’s rushing-oriented offense that year. Nevertheless, the team snuck into the playoffs with an 8-8 record, losing to the Miami Dolphins in the divisional playoffs.

Danielson was injured again in the 1986 preseason, and by the time he healed, Kosar had established himself not only as the Browns' permanent starter but as one of the league's top QBs. In a new, passing-focused offense, Kosar threw for 3,854 yards and finished second in the league with 310 completions. The Browns took top seed in the American Football Conference with a 12–4 record. In the divisional playoffs against the New York Jets, Kosar threw for a playoff-record 489 yards in leading the Browns to a dramatic 23–20 comeback victory in double overtime. Only John Elway's famous 98-yard drive in the following week’s AFC championship kept the Browns out of the Super Bowl.

1987 was Kosar's finest year, statistically. In the strike-shortened season, he completed 62 percent of his passes for 3,033 yards and 22 touchdowns and led the AFC in quarterback rating. In an AFC championship rematch against Elway’s Denver Broncos, Kosar threw for 356 yards and three touchdowns in a 38–33 loss. Kosar also made his only Pro Bowl that season.

Kosar spent most of the 1988 season sidelined with injuries but came back to throw for 3,533 yards in 1989. That year, the Browns advanced to the AFC championship for the third time in four years, losing again to the Broncos in Denver.

Kosar's later years in Cleveland were dampened by injuries and dwindling support around him. In 1990, Kosar threw a career-high 15 interceptions as the Browns went 3–13. The following year, he came back to throw for 3,487 yards and 18 touchdowns. A broken ankle sidelined him for most of the year in 1992.

[edit] Dallas Cowboys

In 1991, the Browns hired Bill Belichick as head coach. Not a big fan of Kosar, Belichick had signed quarterback Vinny Testaverde (Kosar's former college teammate) before the 1993 season. Early in the year, Belichick benched Kosar in favor of Testaverde. An injury to Testaverde later put Kosar back under center.

However, after a 29–14 loss to Denver in week 8, the Browns released Kosar. Belichick told a press conference Kosar was suffering from “diminishing skills.” The coach was not entirely incorrect; Kosar’s performance had trailed off in recent years. But the release of the popular player set off a wave of anger among Browns fans, some of whom came to the next home game in Kosar masks.

The Dallas Cowboys then signed Kosar to a 1 year, $1 million contract to fill in for an injured Troy Aikman. Kosar performed well in four games for the Cowboys and earned his only championship ring as a backup in Super Bowl XXVIII. A week prior to the Super Bowl, Kosar relieved an injured Aikman in the second half of the NFC championship game against the San Francisco 49ers, completing five of nine pass attempts for 83 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. He played one down in the Super Bowl: ending the game by taking a knee on the last play.

[edit] Miami Dolphins

Kosar spent the final three years of his career with the Miami Dolphins as a backup to Dan Marino. He is perhaps best remembered among Dolphins fans for designing a trick play that helped the Dolphins top the Jets in a crucial game late in 1994. With the clock winding down and the Dolphins down by 3, Marino pretended to spike the ball to stop the clock. He then threw the winning touchdown pass to Mark Ingram.

Kosar finished his 12-season career with 1,994 completions in 3,365 attempts for 23,301 yards and 124 touchdowns, with 87 interceptions. He also rushed for 265 yards and 5 touchdowns.

[edit] Retirement from athletics

Since retiring from football after the 1996 season, Kosar has been involved in several ventures. In 2001, he became part-owner of the Florida Panthers franchise of the National Hockey League. In 2004, he opened Bernie’s Steakhouse in South Miami, Florida. He was also publisher of Bernie’s Insiders, a magazine that covered the Browns; his role ended when it became the Orange and Brown Report at the end of 2005. The Bernie J. Kosar Jr. Charitable Trust, established in 1991, funds programs for children and young adults. Kosar has turned down feelers to run for public office.

Kosar currently is in the middle of divorce proceedings with his wife, Babette, after 16 years of marriage. Kosar noted that his wife filed for divorce just days after he sold a business interest for $60 million. The couple has four children.

As part of a renewed hands-on involvement with his long-time team, Kosar announced July 26, 2006 that he would join the Cleveland Browns pre-season television broadcast team as a color commentator. It is not known whether or not WKYC will bring him back next season.^[1]

There had been talk of Kosar taking the head coaching job at his alma mater, the University of Miami, and Kosar (who currently holds a seat on Miami's board of regents) acknowledged that he had considered taking the job before it was ultimately offered to Randy Shannon.^{[2] [3]}

[edit] Career Stats

[edit] NFL Regular season

• 3,365 passes attempted
• 1,994 passes completed
• 23,301 passing yards
• 124 passing touchdowns
• 87 passes intercepted
• 81.8 quarterback rating

[edit] NFL Post season

• 269 passes attempted
• 151 passes completed
• 1,917 passing yards
• 16 passing touchdowns
• 10 passes intercepted
• 85.8 quarterback rating

[edit] References

1. ^ Dulik, Brian. "Kosar officially back in the Browns’ mix", Medina County Gazette
2. ^ Kosar considering Miami coaching job. URL Accessed December 6, 2006
3. ^ Kosar interested in returning to alma mater. URL Accessed December 6, 2006

[edit] External links

• Bernie’s Steakhouse, Bernie Kosar-owned restaurant
• Pro-Football-Reference.com - career statistics.
• Bernie Kosar profile and career statistics at DatabaseFootball.com.
• "All-time Top 5 supplemental draft picks" by Eric Moneypenny, Fox Sports, 2006

Preceded by Gary Danielson	Cleveland Browns Starting Quarterbacks 1985-92	Succeeded by Vinny Testaverde
Preceded by Jim Kelly	Miami Hurricanes Starting Quarterbacks 1983-1984	Succeeded by Vinny Testaverde