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CLEVELAND, Ohio – If you lose, this is how you get out. It was the kind of loss that should send the Cleveland Browns into the offseason not overwhelmed with regret, but filled with goal.
Anti-bettors who believe Browns coach Kevin Stefanski gave up a chance to win in the final five minutes by shooting on the fourth and nine of their 32-yard line went too far.
Stefanski is as strategic with fourth bet decisions as any coach in the league, and he said after the game he would have if the mileage was more manageable. But 9 meters was too much. It wasn’t the ‘abandonment football’ that we see too often. It wasn’t Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin, who finished fourth and 1st for midfielder last week.
Sending him back to Chiefs quarterback Chad Henne, who had just thrown a terrible interception, was a calculated risk. Even with just one timeout, if the Browns could force a three and an out, they would pick it up and start over. They didn’t have the stops. But even Baker Mayfield thought the punt made sense there and believed the Browns would see the ball again.
So I can’t imagine looking at Sunday as some kind of lack. It was a reminder. I’m not going to think about what could have been for the Browns. I’ll think about what they are.
Not because the Browns did everything right on Sunday in their 22-17 loss to the defending Super Bowl champions, but because they rolled out a solid but not spectacular version of their winning formula and learned just how far. that would lead them.
They are as good as any team except the Patrick Mahomes Kansas City Chiefs. At the end of Sunday, they weren’t playing against the Mahomes Chiefs, as the league’s top player had been knocked out of the game with a concussion. The Browns, with their flawed defense, were therefore waiting for one last save against an alternate quarterback to give this attack a chance to win the game.
They had this chance earlier. After Mayfield and the Browns devised a 75-yard drive that lasted 8 minutes and 17 seconds to slash Kansas City to five points, they recovered the ball with eight minutes remaining after Henne’s choice of end zone. Do the same, win the game.
They didn’t, with Mayfield explaining that the Chiefs had exerted effective pressure. The Browns sent him back after seven plays, 12 yards and 3:51, and never saw the ball again. The Browns were 6 of 13 on third downs and 3 of 3 on fourth downs on Sunday, but much of the success of the fourth down came from sneaking it in, and several of the third downs conversions came with throws expected before the sticks that led to the smugglers who won the last few meters alone. So 9 meters required a lot. Stopping Henne required a little less.
If Mahomes was healthy, maybe asking for those 9 yards instead of punting Mahomes would have been Stefanski’s call. According to ESPN figures, the call was right on the edge (a 29.5% chance of success, while a 30.7% chance is what was worth it) and the difference between Henne and Mahomes was enough to tip him over in my mind.
But the Chiefs converted the last two thirds and a fourth and held on. It wasn’t Mahomes, but it was still the Chiefs, and that’s what Kansas City’s offensive firepower does to a game.
Every punt feels like a failure, because every shot for Kansas City could be a touchdown. The Browns never forced the Chiefs to kick, but they limited that attack as much as they could have hoped, forcing three field goals and a missed field goal after Mayfield’s lone interception.
They gave themselves a chance. But the story of the season isn’t about not taking the chance. That’s about all that got them here. No one on the Browns was happy Sunday. But I think you should be. Mayfield, as he has said all season, spoke again after the game about setting a new standard.
An 11-5 regular season, a playoff win over the Steelers and a five-point loss to the Chiefs established that. If the Browns had played anyone else on Sunday – Buffalo, Baltimore, Green Bay, Tampa Bay, New Orleans – the pre-game thoughts of a win would have been entirely reasonable. I thought believing they could beat the Chiefs was a bit too much, just because you can do anything right, but Mahomes will always wait.
They did all they could. And that means next season has no limits.
In 2021, the Browns can beat anyone.
Browns playoff jerseys, hats for sale: Here’s where Cleveland Browns fans can order shirts and hats celebrating the team’s qualification for the 2020 NFL Playoffs.
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