Kevin Mack

All three quarterbacks battling for the Chicago Bears' starting job directed touchdown drives last night, but Mike Tomczak had the best statistics in a 28-20 exhibition victory over the Miami Dolphins at Miami. The game was the preseason opener for both teams. Tomczak, who started five games last season, completed 7 of 8 passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns. Jim McMahon did nearly as well, connecting on 4 of 6 passes for 47 yards and directing an 84-yard touchdown drive in his only appearance.

The Green Bay Packers cut their third placekicker of the year yesterday when they released Dean Dorsey, who had started the season as a $60,000 bonus baby of the Eagles. Dorsey, who missed an extra point Sunday in Green Bay's 18-6 victory over Minnesota, was 1 of 3 on field goals and 3 of 4 on extra points. He was released after only three games. The other cut placekickers were Max Zendejas and Dale Dawson, another former Eagle. The Packers gave a tryout yesterday to Willie Beecher, a former Utah State player who kicked for the Miami Dolphins' strike-replacement team last season.

Seattle Seahawks coach Chuck Knox benched quarterback Dave Krieg yesterday, announcing that Kelly Stouffer would start Sunday against the New York Giants in an attempt to "energize" a stagnant offense. The Seahawks (4-6) have not scored more than 24 points in a game this season, and the offense has scored only two touchdowns in the last three games. "We are starting Kelly Stouffer because we have been floundering on offense," Knox said. "We hope Kelly can energize our offense, make some plays and not hurt us. He's a fresh guy with a little different look.

Does the team that came unglued finally have it together? The New York Jets will try to answer that question in the affirmative this afternoon at Cleveland's Municipal Stadium during an AFC playoff semifinal against the resident and resilient Browns (Channel 29, 12:30 p.m.). The lingering memory of the Jets' manic-depressive season has not been the 10-1 record they achieved by mid-November, when they were hailed as the finest team, yea juggernaut, in the NFL. Rather, it has been the five-game losing streak that preceded the team's backward entry into the playoffs, as the least-worthy contender on the postseason manifest.

In a case of deja vu rivaling the marital history of Zsa Zsa Gabor, the Oilers today will square off against the Browns in Cleveland Municipal Stadium, that creaking, crumbling, rust-eaten structure that saw these 10-6 teams do battle only six days ago. Their regular-season finale - the first time the Oilers played a 1988 game on a grass field - ended in a 28-23 Cleveland victory led by Don Strock, the 38-year-old quarterback who brought his...

That Eagles cornerback Eric Allen would come out of some game with his scorch marks still warm probably should have been expected long before yesterday's wretched 19-3 loss to the Browns. Allen, after all, is not only a 22-year-old rookie but also an athlete assigned to one of the most impossible defensive positions in football. At cornerback, it is Allen's lot to match a pass receiver's every action with reaction - or suffer the agonizing, wide-open embarrassment of getting beaten on a play that invariably produces a long gain or a touchdown.

The ill winds that have swept through Cleveland's quarterback corps over the season's first six weeks appear to be forcing the Browns to play right into the Eagles' hands this Sunday. Buffeted by injuries, Cleveland is down to its fourth quarterback of the season, 37-year-old Don Strock. It would seem logical, then, that the quarterback plague, coupled with the fact that the Browns do have two solid runners in Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner, would force them into a ground- oriented game.

In the pregame introductions, the Browns had sent out their offense - five linemen, a tight end, two running backs, a QB and four wide receivers. That's 13 in all, which, of course, exceeds the limit. But it was an omen because there were times yesterday during their AFC playoff game with the Indianapolis Colts when it looked as though the Brownies were playing with more than the law allows. Bernie Kosar, for example, the NFL's most unappreciated quarterback, sprayed the ball around to nine receivers.

Is Cleveland Browns owner Art Modell plotting the perfect robbery of the Eagles? It would appear so. First, Reggie White scheduled a weekend visit to meet with Browns officials. And now, Eagles teammate Keith Byars will follow the seven-time Pro Bowl defensive end into Cleveland tomorrow for his first visit as an unrestricted free agent. Byars's Cleveland stop will overlap with White's two-day trip to the city by the lake. Byars will fly with Modell via Lear jet from Palm Beach, Fla., Modell's winter home.

At Cleveland's Municipal Stadium today, the Eagles will be trying to roll on, while the Browns will be hoping to hold on. Both teams sport 3-3 records going into this afternoon's game (Channel 10, 1 o'clock), but their situations are dramatically different. The Eagles are on a two-game winning streak and, coming off an emotional victory over the New York Giants, will be trying to hit high gear. The Browns, on the other hand, will be trying to make do again without injured quarterback Bernie Kosar, who has been missing since suffering an elbow injury in their opener.