Pittsburgh ‘Jinx’ Ends as Browns Win, 27-24

PITTSBURGH — A strange thing happened to the Cleveland Browns en route to their 17th consecutive loss in Pittsburgh--they won.

The Browns fumbled three times to set up Pittsburgh touchdowns, missed a 19-yard fourth-quarter field goal try and had a puny three yards per rushing attempt, but they managed to beat the Steelers, 27-24, Sunday for their first victory in Pittsburgh since 1969.

What Steelers’ fans joyfully referred to as “The Jinx” is history.

“I’m excited for my football team,” Browns’ Coach Marty Schottenheimer said. “We made enough errors to lose, but our team was committed to win this game. We talked all week about this being our Sunday. . . . This was our day.”

Earnest Byner scored the deciding touchdown on a four-yard fourth-period run, and Gerald McNeil ran a kickoff back 100 yards for a score as the Browns won for the first time ever at Three Rivers Stadium, which opened in 1970.

“Now I can retire,” Browns’ tight end Ozzie Newsome said. “The frustration is over. I’m overjoyed.”

“What jinx?” asked McNeil, whose long-distance scoring return was his second in two games.

Bernie Kosar threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to rookie Webster Slaughter, and former Steeler Matt Bahr kicked 22 and 39-yard field goals for the Browns (3-2).

The Steelers (1-4) are off to their worst start in a decade.

The last time the Steelers opened a season by losing four of their first five was 1976, when they went on to win nine in a row.

“The loss was very frustrating because we played well enough to win,” said Steelers’ running back Rich Erenberg. “A few mistakes, a few bad calls . . . things like that can change the course of a game.”

Three Steelers’ turnovers led to Browns’ scores in a mistake-plagued game in which all but one of the combined seven turnovers--Pittsburgh had three fumbles and an interception--resulted in scoring.

“We played good defense, we ran the football pretty well, we played pretty good offense,” Steeler Coach Chuck Noll said. “But we gave up the big play on special teams and we fumbled too much. You can’t fumble and expect to win.”

Gary Anderson kicked a 45-yard field goal with 14:42 to play as the Steelers took a 24-20 lead. The Browns were forced to punt on their next possession, but Rick Woods fumbled and Mark Harper recovering at the Steelers’ 34.

The Steelers’ defense again held and Bahr missed a 43-yard field-goal attempt, but defensive back Dave Edwards was called for running into Bahr and the five-yard penalty gave the Browns a first down at the 21. Kosar hit Slaughter for five yards and Brian Brennan for 11 yards to the six before Byner scored a play later.

Bahr later missed a 19-yard field goal try--his first miss in his last 31 attempts inside the 30-yard line. But after the Steelers had advanced to the Browns’ 35 with 1:30 to play, Chris Rockins fell on a fumble by Earnest Jackson, the Steelers’ fourth turnover, and the Browns ran out the clock.