Nick Chubb rushed for 106 yards with Kareem Hunt and Baker Mayfield rushing for a touchdown each as part of an attack that was very ground-based in the second half.
Denzel Ward led a defense that bent, but would only allow one touchdown, with a first-quarter interception that he returned sixty-one yards for a touchdown.
The Browns improve to 6-7 and keep playoff hopes alive that are about as bright as a lighter being seen from the moon with the victory.
Brownie Bits
1) The Browns won a key reversal in the fourth period via replay and that helped in their victory today.
The first came when Baker Mayfield's pass forced a jumping Odell Beckham to only be able to get his fingertips on the ball, which then deflected to the Bengals Jessie Bates for an interception.
After the Browns challenge, pass interference was called on Cincinnati and the drive continued.
Had the interception stood, the Bengals would have had the ball at the Browns fifteen-yard line down eight points.
Instead, the drive moved on and Austin Seibert would kick a field goal to stretch the Browns lead to eleven points.
2) Freddie Kitchens managed to keep the Bengals in a game that they really had little business being in.
Kitchens with the league's leading rusher in Nick Chubb and the league's leading rusher in 2017 in Kareem Hunt on his side and facing the league's worst run defense, gave the pair six combined carries and continued his dubious decision on allowing this team to rely on Baker Mayfield, he of the 33rd in the league passer rating entering the game, to make plays rather than his two runners.
3) BUT as bad as that decision was, Kitchens was smart enough to realize that error and began to slam the ball at the Bengals.
The Browns ran four straight running plays to start the second half and arrived for a first and goal at the three of the Bengals.
First and goal- neither Chubb or Hunt in the backfield, Baker Mayfield throws incomplete to David Njoku.
Second and goal-Hunt for the three-yard score.
Far too often, these teams just overthink themselves.
4) I'll start with the best part of Baker Mayfield's day- his seven-yard, second-quarter run that saw him tip-toe along the sideline and ensuing dive for the pylon for the score.
Mayfield showed nice athletic ability and nose for the end zone on the play.
5) That was about the only highlight of his day as he threw two interceptions without a touchdown, as noted above, Mayfield needed a kind video replay to save him from a third interception and per his usual campaign continued to fire footballs over his receivers that fell incomplete or forced them to leap to make catches.
You are likely tired of reading this every week.
I am tired of typing it.
6) The Bengals are a pretty poor defensive team, but Baker Mayfield did have time to throw today and was sacked only one time in the win.
Kendall Lamm started at right tackle with Chris Hubbard being injured and Greg Robinson returned at left tackle.
I'm not sure if the returns of Lamm and Robinson can be given or the Bengals are that bad, but one sack is a pretty solid number.
7) The review that hurt the Browns was in the first quarter when Baker Mayfield hit David Njoku and while it appeared Njoku was on the ground, Bengals linebacker Nick Vigil appeared to take the ball away from him.
The ruling on the field was for a Vigil interception, but if that is the case why didn't Vigil have the ball until Njoku hit the ground?
A call of a fumble would have made more sense, but even so, the ground cannot cause a fumble, so that doesn't wash either.
The obvious call was an incomplete pass and yet the replay 'confirmed" the call.
Sometimes, I wonder why they bother.
8) The Browns run defense was nothing to brag about though as Joe Mixon ran for even more than Nick Chubb as Mixon finished with 146 yards and an average of over six yards a carry.
Mixon's a very good back, but I expected better from the Browns defense.
9) Now the big news: Before the game, Jay Glazer announced on a pre-game show that Odell Beckham wanted out of Cleveland, etc.
It's the usual nugget from these talking heads, but I think it is likely true.
Would you want to play in this mess?
10) Then after the game, Baker Mayfield, who never misses an opportunity to offer an opinion, brings up Beckham's playing hurt all season, which is a good thing for Mayfield to say for Beckham.
But Mayfield doesn't stop there as he then says the mistake was made by the teams training staff and had Beckham been operated on when he should have been, he would have missed only a game or two rather than be hampered all season.
While that may have been true, it likely wasn't smart to toss the blame on the medical staff.
Baker Mayfield: Landscaper, human resources officer, player personnel director and now a physician.
Everything but an accurate passer.
11) Why is it that even when the Browns win, it still feels like a loss?
In the end, this will be a meaningless win in the big picture, but still couldn't we enjoy the win?
I mean really, other than the Ravens win and maybe the Bills win, all of the wins had something else going on.
Miami was because they were awful, Jets was that they didn't have Sam Darnold, Pittsburgh had the helmet hammer and today was Odell Beckham wants to leave and Baker Mayfield throwing the medical staff under the bus.
Only with the Browns.
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