CINCINNATI — Two more games. That’s it.
Long dead and limping to the finish, the Cleveland Browns had chances to make Sunday’s 24-6 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals much more interesting than the final score or first-half events indicate. But the Browns didn’t, instead slipping to 3-12 and with quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson doing little to make anyone involved believe he’s more than a third-stringer in the first of what should be a three-game audition to close this miserable season.
New quarterback, a familiar flurry of crippling turnovers. The Browns should have had an early lead, but D’Onta Foreman fumbled just short of the goal line on the game’s first possession and Thompson-Robinson was intercepted twice in the fourth quarter when the Browns were still in rallying range. Foreman was playing for the first time since late October, and Thompson-Robinson was making his first start of the season because the Browns decided it was time to pull the plug on Jameis Winston and let the second-year quarterback give it a go.
On Friday, reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett decided it was time to reverse course from his previous declarations that he was fully committed to playing in Cleveland and tell reporters that he’ll need to be sold on a plan to get the Browns back to immediate playoff contention.
The timing was curious for multiple reasons, mostly that the trade deadline was seven weeks ago and Garrett is under contract for two more seasons. But on Sunday Garrett became the youngest player to get to 100 career sacks and just the second to record at least 12 in five consecutive seasons. A week short of his 29th birthday, Garrett is still clearly one of the NFL’s best players.
Whatever you think of his timing or potential motivations — the “Hard Knocks” cameras in the building, potential contract leverage or maybe just plain disgust with a losing franchise — what’s clear is that the process of Browns players facing uncomfortable conversations has been accelerated.
“There’s nothing I said that anybody was unaware of,” Garrett said Sunday.
The Browns need almost a full teardown, and now Garrett is saying it. It’s clear in the way the Bengals went 99 yards quickly after Foreman’s fumble. It’s clear in the fact that Thompson-Robinson is out there at all. It’s clear in the financial and roster uncertainty the Browns face going forward, most glaringly in the $172.9 million in salary-cap commitments the team still has to Deshaun Watson. Garrett just said it in front of a microphone, then said it again after joining Lawrence Taylor in the club of players to post five straight 12-sack seasons.
“People remember L.T. because he won,” Garrett said. “I want to get to winning.”
The bar is so low for the current Browns that Thompson-Robinson making a few nice throws in the third quarter and Jerome Ford having another strong game as a runner stood out. Ford scored from 4 yards out with 5:50 left in the third quarter to cut the Browns’ deficit to 17-6. When the Cleveland defense forced a second straight Bengals punt after Ford’s touchdown, at least a little momentum was on the Browns’ side.
But old habits die hard — as agonizingly as old teams with too many bad contracts do. The Browns went from gaining confidence to giving away chances, and they never got any closer than Ford’s touchdown run got them. This is how the Browns gave away points on Sunday:
• The first-drive fumble at the goal line. Foreman was inches from putting the Browns up 6-0. We can’t say it would have been 7-0 because struggling kicker Dustin Hopkins missed his only point-after try in his first game back after a one-game benching. On the game’s first play, Ford took off on a 66-yard run that got the Browns to Cincinnati’s 11-yard line. After the fumble, then a bunch of sacks and errant passes, the Browns finished the first half with just 86 total yards.
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• The Browns stopped the Bengals on third down at the Cleveland 41 in the final 30 seconds of the first half, but coach Kevin Stefanski chose not to call timeout. The Bengals brought on their punt team before calling a timeout of their own and bringing on Cade York to try a 59-yard field goal. York made it, pushing the lead to 17-0 and tying a Bengals franchise record for longest successful field goal. If the Browns had called timeout, the Bengals would have punted.
• With the Browns down 17-6, Thompson-Robinson crossed the goal line on a run on the first play of the fourth quarter. The touchdown was negated by a holding call on Jordan Akins. After another holding call two plays later pushed the Browns to the 22-yard line, Thompson-Robinson was hit as he threw and the pass was intercepted by Jordan Battle.
Even one of those situations going differently would have changed the shape of the game late and given the Browns a chance. Instead, they lost again — with turnovers and game-management mistakes at the top of the list of reasons why.
“Obviously, (when) you turn the ball over inside the red zone then get another good drive going and get a couple penalties … it’s really disappointing,” Stefanski said. “Ultimately, you’re not going to put yourself in position to go win on the road. It’s not a lack of effort. That’s not the issue. It’s a lack of protecting the ball.”
Two more games. Things have been so bad that pointing out players who continue to give good effort goes high on the list of compliments each week.
Maybe the Browns can win one of their remaining two, but right now the goal should be to continue to fall in the leaguewide standings and land in the top five of April’s NFL Draft. Maybe a high draft pick can be a big selling point for getting Garrett to stay. Maybe the Browns can use this month to get key reps for other young players who need them, and it’s fair to say Ford is a nice player, Jerry Jeudy is a keeper and that young defensive linemen Mike Hall Jr. and Isaiah McGuire have at least shown positive signs. But the list of positive things the Browns could sell anyone right now is short, and it’s long been difficult to see any shortcut back toward competence.
How that’s spun, sold and potentially constructed (or fully reconstructed) from January to March, we’ll see. But the Browns know they don’t have a quarterback of the present or future on their roster, know they face major decisions on both lines and face eight more quarters of trying to string a few positive plays together without imploding, getting flagged and/or just giving the ball away.
Maybe trading Garrett for draft picks will eventually be necessary, as painful as it might be. Right now, the Browns just need to get to the end of this season without more major injuries or made-for-TV drama. Even before Garrett spoke up, the folks in charge were fully aware of the conversations and decisions that awaited.
(Photo: Dylan Buell / Getty Images)
