And with ten minutes to go, the Browns appeared to be on the precipice of a next-level victory that would announce Cleveland's joining the elite of the AFC, only to self-destruct and drop the decision to the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium 33-29.
Baker Mayfield threw for 321 yards with the game-ending interception while Nick Chubb rushed for 83 yards with two touchdowns on the ground to lead Cleveland.
The Browns start their season 0-1 and will host Houston in their home opener next Sunday.
Brownie Bits
1) This one hurts because this game was there to be won, not because I expected the Browns to win.
Remember this is the two-time defending AFC champions playing in their home, arguably the most difficult stadium to visit in pro football and what I was hoping for was for the Browns to give another good performance to build on.
That was more than given but to come so close and give the game away? That always makes the loss harder to take.
2) The Browns seemingly had control of the game until two fourth-quarter plays that made the difference in the game and they were the type of breakdowns that the Browns have made for years.
There has been plenty of progress made under Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski but those two plays are the type of things that plagued the losing days in Cleveland.
3) Jamie Gillan's dropped punt that led to the Chiefs' score that gave them the lead, looked to me that he was a bit panicked.
What I mean by that was that I thought he still had time to get the punt off as the Chiefs were only pressuring him with a nominal rush being applied by Kansas City.
4) The Browns also continued their late collapse on the seventy-five yard touchdown that Tyreek Hill caught over off-season signee John Johnson.
Johnson had no help on the coverage against and it's hard to blame him too much for not being able to cover Hill but that play was painful to watch as the Browns should never have put Johnson in a position to have to make that play in coverage against a player like Hill,
5) As for Tyreek Hill, Hill continues to be a Brown's thorn as Hill finished the game with 11 catches (out of 15 attempts sent his way) for 197 yards and a touchdown.
Tyreek Hill kills lots of teams but the Cleveland Browns are going to have to find someone capable of at least slowing him down if these teams play in the playoffs or next season because he is clearly a man among boys when these two teams play.
6) The loss of Ronnie Harrison after a scuffle with Chiefs coach Greg Lewis on the sidelines.
Lewis did initiate contact with Harrison and Harrison did go back at Lewis but neither hurt the other and an argument could be made for the incident being the fault of Lewis but the Browns lost a starting safety and the Chiefs didn't even lose a coach on the sidelines- Far from an even trade.
7) The Browns showed signs of the beginnings of trying to develop their own weapon like Tyreek Hill in speedy third-round pick Anthony Schwartz.
Schwartz finished with three catches, including a 44-yard pass that could have been a score had the ball been able to be caught in stride by Schwartz.
It's a process but Schwartz may develop into a dangerous weapon for the Browns.
8) I foresaw problems as soon as I saw tackle Jedrick Wills on a cart (Wills is day to day currently from an injured ankle) and saw that the replacement was going to be Chris Hubbard.
Hubbard was decent enough last season as a rotational guard but he was awful as a tackle in 2018 and 2019 and having to block the best pass rusher for the Chiefs in Chris Jones was an immediate worry.
Jones whipped Hubbard consistently during the second half and sacked Baker Mayfield twice.
9) I really liked Kevin Stefanski's going for the two-point conversion after the Browns first possession touchdown after a Kansas City penalty moved the ball from the two to the one for the attempt.
Kareem Hunt leaped over the pile for the two-pointer, but the aggressiveness in attempting to set the tone of the game should be applauded even if the attempt had failed.
10 ) And then there was Baker Mayfield. who put up nice numbers until his interception on the final drive.
Mayfield's ankle was grabbed at the last minute by another ghost from the Browns past, safety Daniel Sorensen and it did cause the pass to flutter to Chiefs cornerback Mike Hughes.
However, Mayfield once again failed to show the ability to bring his team from behind in the waning moments.
Jason Lloyd of The Athletic reports that Mayfield has had twelve chances to win games in the final four minutes when the Browns were trailing by a touchdown or less and has a record of 3-9 with none of the three wins against playoff teams.
Lloyd's point about Mayfield and his contract extension at the end of the season connecting the extension to winning games.
"You want 38 million a year? Go win this game".
11) There are two differences between these teams- Cleveland doesn't have a threat that can go 80 yards with every touch of the ball like Tyreek Hill and they don't have a quarterback like Patrick Mahomes.
The Browns are working on the Hill-alike with Anthony Schwartz and perhaps Odell Beckham depending on his return from his knee injury.
Baker Mayfield is good, not great and I'm not sure if Mayfield can ever bridge that gap between himself and the elite level where Mahomes resides.
The road to the Super Bowl moves through Kansas City and I'm not sure if it comes down to Baker Mayfield vs Patrick Mahomes to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs that the Browns can win that matchup.
12) It will be a long 17 game season and the Browns will have opportunities to be great.
Let's not allow a road loss to the bully of the conference in the opener to allow worries to spiral out of control.
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