4 takeaways from the Browns’ Week 17 loss to the Steelers

Cleveland’s final appearance on the national stage for the 2021 NFL season did not go well, to say the least. The Browns lost 26-14 to the rival Steelers in Pittsburgh on Monday Night Football in Week 17 in a game that featured some truly bad offensive performances from both teams.

The loss dropped Kevin Stefanski’s Browns to a disappointing 7-9, and came in the same stadium where exactly one year to the day earlier the Browns wrapped up a postseason berth. It was an ugly change of fate, one that represents one of the lowest points for the franchise in a disappointing year.

Here are four things about the Browns’ Monday night performance that stuck with me on Tuesday morning after trying to sleep away the disappointment.

Baker Mayfield should never have played

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Mayfield is a competitive guy and that feistiness is one of the things that attracted the Browns to him as the No. 1 overall pick back in the 2018 NFL draft. But we’ve seen how Mayfield’s spirit can get him into trouble on the field, too.

Unfortunately, those negatives were on full display from the very beginning on Monday night. Between the ongoing injuries to his shoulder and knee and his issues facing a fearsome pass rush behind a dilapidated offensive line, it was not a situation where Mayfield could find success. Quite the opposite happened, and it was painful to watch.

Mayfield became the only quarterback in 2021 to miss 10 straight throws. He had five passes batted down at the line in a 16-for-38 performance where he was also sacked nine times.

With the postseason already ruled out before the game, this was a situation where Mayfield didn’t need to start. He absolutely did not need to stay in the game when it was obvious he was ineffective and was also at risk of further injury. There’s pride in finishing what he started, but Mayfield’s acknowledgement after the game that he’s “pretty damn beat up” was a perfectly valid excuse for coach Stefanski sitting him for his own good.

Kevin Stefanski had a very bad game

(AP Photo/Don Wright)

This is not a game where coach Kevin Stefanski will like much of anything from the game film. And the film study is likely to produce some uncomfortable self-evaluation for Stefanski.

The second-year coach had the worst performance of his career.

There were several questionable choices from Stefanski throughout the game. From leaving greenhorn rookie right tackle James Hudson on an island against Defensive Player of the Year candidate T.J. Watt (four sacks) to a weird aversion to playing Pro Bowl RB Nick Chubb more, it was a poorly conceived offensive game plan from the man in charge.

The usage, or lack thereof, of Chubb was something that drew in-game enmity from the Manning brothers and former coach Bill Cowher on their ESPN broadcast. Fellow ESPN commentator Louis Riddick was apoplectic on the main broadcast at not using Chubb against the Steelers’ league-worst run defense.

They were right. On a night where Mayfield was off, the line couldn’t pass protect, Austin Hooper couldn’t catch and the offense desperately needed to grind out some first downs to help out the defense, chaining Chubb to the bench for prolonged periods and running him just 12 times (58 yards) made no sense at all.

Stefanski’s team was not properly prepared to play offense against the Steelers. That’s on the coach as much as it is the players, who didn’t execute well in their own rights.

The defense, especially the secondary, played well

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While it was far from a perfect effort, Cleveland’s defense played pretty well overall. The young secondary in particular turned in a good enough performance to keep the Browns in the game until very late.

Rookie CB Greg Newsome and second-year safety Grant Delpit each played great individual games against the pass-happy Steelers. Delpit notched a team-high 11 tackles and was consistently where and when he needed to be. M.J. Stewart (four tackles, two PDs) turned in a fine, hard-hitting effort in place of Ronnie Harrison and John Johnson at safety. Cornerback Denzel Ward played quite well against both the run and pass.

Yes, the run defense broke down too many times in allowing rookie RB Najee Harris to truck for 188 yards and a late TD. The defensive line wore down, and the lack of toughness from the interior against the run was exposed later in the game. Tackling wasn’t great from the second level, but Harris also deserves credit for a beast-like performance.

Joe Woods dialed up a largely successful game plan to handle the Steelers’ offensive attack. Even missing some regulars due to injuries, Cleveland’s defense acquitted itself nicely in Pittsburgh. They helped Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger set an NFL record for the fewest passing yards (123) in a game with at least 45 pass attempts.

Quick hits

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–Tight end Austin Hooper had a terrible game. He dropped two passes early, got tossed aside like a dirty dishrag in a blocking attempt and was clearly the least effective of the Browns’ three tight ends.

–Jadeveon Clowney’s (deserved) unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for throwing a shoe in the first quarter is the exact kind of self-destructive behavior that reflects poorly on a coaching staff. Clowney played well otherwise, including two sacks, but his bonehead move allowed the Steelers to score early.

–If the goal of playing RT James Hudson was to see if he can be a viable option in the future, it failed. The rookie desperately needed help against Watt but rarely got it — by design. It was the kind of performance that can permanently scar a young player trying to find his NFL way.

–It got obscured by Hudson’s brutal game, but left tackle Jedrick Wills also had a game to forget. His run blocking was substandard, and that’s a problem that has been evident too many times in Wills’ second season.

–Linebacker Sione Takitaki leaving with an injury hurt the run defense more than it should have. The thickly-built Takitaki is the right kind of LB to attack the Steelers and Harris, and he was missed once he left.

–The experimentation with WR Donovan Peoples-Jones as a return man needs to be done. He’s not a twitchy guy who can make would-be tacklers miss in space, and his long speed doesn’t translate well when he can’t get a long runway to accelerate.

–Punter Dustin Colquitt picked a horrible time to have his worst punt, a 21-yard shank that led to the Steelers’ field goal that pushed the lead to 16-7.

–While Mayfield had a bad game, his receiving corps did very little to help out their quarterback. A costly late drop by WR Rashard Higgins, who could not get open all night, should be the end of the discussion about bringing him back in 2022.

–The Pittsburgh crowd chanting “Cleveland sucks” loud enough to be heard over the ESPN broadcast was humiliating, but the Browns deserved it the way they played.

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