Monday, September 27, 2021

Browns blow by Bears 26-6

   The Cleveland Browns held the Chicago Bears to 118 yards of total offense and pulled away with a dominant fourth quarter to defeat the Bears 26-6 in Cleveland.

Myles Garrett finished with a team-record four and a half sacks to lead a pass rush that sacked Chicago's rookie quarterback Justin Fields nine times.

Baker Mayfield threw a touchdown and for 246 yards with both Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt finishing with over eighty rushing yards for the game.

The now 2-1 Browns will travel to Minnesota next week for the Kevin Stefanski Bowl against the Vikings.

Brownie Bits

1) The big story was the suddenly awakened pass rush that dumped Justin Fields nine times and just missed against the somewhat elusive Fields several others.

Myles Garrett's four and a half sacks set a new team record and his opposite end Jadeveon Clowney added two more sacks.

Considering the Browns issues with the rush in the first two games, this is a huge positive going forward.

2) The Chicago offensive line is terrible and as bad as they were in protecting Justin Fields, they weren't any better in their attempts to run the football as David Montgomery ran for 34 carries on ten carries, numbers that seem worse when you consider sixteen of those yards came on one carry.

3) The Browns offensive line wasn't spectacular in protecting Baker Mayfield, who was sacked five times in the win.

Khalil Mack reached Mayfield twice in the game and Mack missed most of the first half with a sprained foot and the Browns might have given the Bears a few more sacks had a healthy Mack played the entire game.

4) I know the offensive line is beaten up a bit right now and they still opened up huge holes in the running game but the five sacks are concerning and something to wonder about when the opposition improves.

5) Baker Mayfield did receive plenty of pressure from the Bear defense and he did manage to avoid an interception but in this game, I saw many of his passes go high.

Mayfield completed 19 of 31 for the game so he was still effective but this has always been a concern of mine with Mayfield's accuracy and I'll keeping an eye on this as the season moves on.

6) Odell Beckham's return to the field was not spectacular but solid with five catches for seventy-seven yards on nine targets.

Mayfield and Beckham's chemistry has been discussed often since Beckham's arrival in Cleveland but i didn't see many signs of that on Sunday.

7) Kevin Stefanski decided to go for it on fourth down on the first two possessions of the game and failed both times.

One was on a busted play and a bad snap foiled the other but I like the aggressiveness if not the execution.

8) Chase McLaughlin's win over Cody Parkey for the Browns placekicking job has begun to pay dividends.

The Browns thought that in picking McLaughlin they were selecting the kicker with longer range and with that range would add scoring chances that Parkey would not be able to take advantage of.

McLaughlin's four field goals included two of over fifty yards with one coming from 57 yards.

9) Kareem Hunt is clearly the backup to Nick Chubb but on almost any other team Hunt would be their ground game superstar.

Hunt averaged eight yards a carry on his ten totes and Hunt runs with a nastiness that reminds one of runners from a different era.

10) This game was the coming-out party for Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah as JOK began to see more snaps and finished with four solo tackles, half a sack, and another tackle for loss.

I have a feeling that the production has only just started for the versatile rookie from Notre Dame.

11) The Browns are 2-1.

They should be Chicago and Houston aren't very good teams and with both of those games at home, those wins should have been reliably figured in the win column before the season.

Now the season really begins with road games at Minnesota and the Los Angeles Chargers that cannot be counted on for relatively easy wins, it'll be interesting to see how the Browns react after the loss in Kansas City.

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