All of that occurred before Szymt kicked a 49-yard field goal on the last play of the game to give the Cleveland Browns a 20-18 win in Cincinnati, the final game of the Kevin Stefanski era, if not the Andrew Berry era, in Cleveland.
Devin Bush grabbed a tipped Joe Burrow pass and ran ninety-seven yards for one touchdown, and Sam Webb ran fifty-three yards after recovering a Noah Fant fumble for the other Browns touchdown.
The Browns finish with a record of 5-12 and will return for the 2026 season with a new head coach.
Brownie Bits
1) It took until the fourth quarter, but Myles Garrett did get the one sack that he needed to set a new NFL record for sacks in a season.
The Bengals did an excellent job keeping Garrett off Joe Burrow until the record-setting sack, when Garrett was able to get off the line with an incredible jump, and Burrow had no way to avoid Garrett.
2) I was interested to hear that Michael Strahan commented that his was the real record because he did it in sixteen, not seventeen games.
Strahan is right that his task was accomplished in fewer games, but the NFL used to play twelve and then fourteen before Strahan's day of sixteen games, and I don't remember him complaining about that.
The record is the record for most in a season until the NFL decides to have a record for 12, 14, or 16 game seasons.
3) Shedeur Sanders's day wasn't very impressive as the rookie lostt a fumble and was fortunate to finish without an interception as the Bengals dropped two that should have been caught.
Sanders finished with a paltry 111 yards and was sacked six times.
4) Sanders did come through on the final drive, as he led the Browns into position for Andre Szymt's game winning boot, twice converting third downs with ten plus yard completions.
Sanders has been a mixed bag in his start, he did win three of his starts (Raiders, Steelers, and Bengals) but didn't really stand out in any of them.
5) Shedeur Sanders played well enough to be in the mix for the starting job in training camp but not well enough to hand him the top job.
I saw some things I liked and some I didn't, so consider me unsold but not on a permanent basis.
6) You have to be happy for Andre Szymt who came full circle after missing a field goal against these same Bengals that would have won the season opener, only to beat the Bengals with a field goal in the final game of the season.
Szymt finished the season twenty-four of twenty-seven on field goal attempts and proved me wrong when I wanted him released after the opener.
7) Cincinnati kicker Evan McPherson is usually one of the better booters in the league.
McPherson had missed only one extra point all season but in this one, McPherson missed two extra points in a game that Cleveland won by two.
8) The Bengals scored the first touchdown (Evan McPherson missed the XP) and appeared to be ready to go up by two touchdowns when Shelby Harris stuck up his hand to deflect a Joe Burrow pass into the hands of Devin Bush, who ran ninety-seven yards for the score.
Harris has always brought a knack for deflections as a defender and in blocking kicks and if the veteran doesn't return, that ability will be missed.
9) The Browns made life tough on Andre Szymt as he had to kick forty-nine yard extra points twice as both Devin Bush and Sam Webb were flagged for excessive celebrations as both dived into the end zone untouched on their scores.
I can excuse Bush's penalty a little but after seeing that call, Webb's penalty was really mindless.
10) The Browns will pick 6th in the first round and the win over the Bengals didn't hurt their position thanks to Washington's win over Philadelphia.
Had Washington lost that game, the Browns would have selected seventh.
11) Final note: The Browns won their final two games.
Had they lost both games, they would have selected first as they would have won the tiebreaker with the other three win teams.
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