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Wednesday, November 07, 2001

After 13 coaching jobs, 41 years in the business and more than 500 games on sidelines as diverse as Coraopolis High School, Harvard, Pitt, Notre Dame and a bunch in the NFL, Foge Fazio thought he had seen everything.

Until Sunday.

"Never been a part of a 'Hail Mary' game before," Fazio said.

"Never want to be in one again."

Fazio, the Cleveland Browns' defensive coordinator, was feeling pretty good about their 21-7 lead against the Chicago Bears with less than a minute to play. They were about to go to 5-2 and move into a first-place tie in the AFC Central, setting up a marvelous showdown with the Steelers Sunday in Cleveland. His defense had sacked quarterback Shane Matthews five times, a remarkable achievement considering the Bears had allowed only two sacks in their first six games. It had intercepted three of Matthews' passes. Defensive end Courtney Brown, playing in his first game this season after a knee injury, had returned a fumble for a touchdown.

Even after the Bears scored with 28 seconds left, Fazio was OK. All the Browns had to do was recover the onside kick. They didn't. Still, all they needed was one big defensive stop. It never came. The Bears' James Allen caught a tipped pass for the tying touchdown on the final play of regulation. The Bears won, 27-21, in overtime.

"It's a bummer," Fazio said, "but you can only beat yourself up for about 24 hours because you have to move on to the next game."

Analyzing tape of the Steelers' 13-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens didn't do much to brighten Fazio's mood the past two days.

"The Steelers should be feeling pretty good about themselves. It looks to me like they beat the hell out of Baltimore."

Fazio said he is impressed by Kordell Stewart's decision-making, passing accuracy and newfound confidence in Plaxico Burress. He is impressed by Hines Ward's toughness, the Steelers' offensive line ...

"That damn Russ Grimm," Fazio said of the Steelers' offensive line coach. "I recruited him at Pitt, you know? I coached with him last year in Washington."

Most of all, Fazio is impressed with Jerome Bettis. Who isn't these days? Bettis nearly ran for 100 yards against a Ravens defense that hadn't allowed a 100-yard rusher since ... When? Ravens owner Art Modell was a young man?

"And we don't have a Tony Siragusa or a Sam Adams or a Ray Lewis to stop The Bus," Fazio said.

The Browns probably still will show up Sunday.

Their defense might be down and it's definitely beat up. Defensive end Keith McKenzie and middle linebacker Wali Rainer were injured against the Bears and won't play. Cornerback Corey Fuller and strong safety Earl Little have nagging injuries. Brown isn't close to game shape even if he did also have three sacks against the Bears.

But the Browns will show up with a defensive plan.

Fazio, 62, has been producing good ones for years. He failed in his one head coaching gig -- a 25-18-3 record at Pitt from 1982-85 despite great talent -- but is highly regarded as a defensive strategist. When Butch Davis took the Browns' job in January, he leaned on his two best friends in football -- Jimmy Johnson and Dave Wannstedt -- for advice about assistants. They had worked with Fazio at Pitt and gave him strong recommendations.

"Going to Cleveland was a terrific move for me because it's a great organization with great young players," Fazio said. "Plus, I could be real close to my mother [in Coraopolis]."

Rose Fazio died the day after Mother's Day. She was 93.

"Getting closer to home was one reason why I left the Vikings to go to the Redskins [after the 1999 season]," Fazio said. "That, and the team they had in Washington. I thought that was going to be my avenue to the Super Bowl. We had an All-Star defense last season. We had great players. It just didn't work out.

"I like to think with Butch here and the players we have, I'm going to finally get to a Super Bowl with the Browns."

Fazio's timing never has been very good. He joined Jackie Sherrill's staff at Pitt in 1977, right after the Panthers won the national championship. He left Lou Holtz's staff at Notre Dame to go to the pros in 1988, right before the Irish won the national championship.

Only once in his first 13 NFL seasons did Fazio come close to the Super Bowl. The Minnesota Vikings went 15-1 in 1998 and blew out the Arizona Cardinals in the playoffs. They led the Atlanta Falcons, 27-20, at home in the NFC championship game and needed only a Gary Anderson 38-yard goal with 2:07 left to put away the victory. But Anderson missed for the first time all season. The Falcons rallied to win, 30-27, in overtime.

Fazio didn't get over that loss in 24 hours.

"I still think about it a lot."

It was the most crushing loss of his career.

The one Sunday -- painful as it was -- doesn't even come close.

Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.