The Browns secured their 0-16 season after losing to a Pittsburgh Steelers team that featured mostly backups on the road. The Browns had their chances at avoiding the wrong type of perfection, and just fell short in a 28-24 loss.
How the Browns sealed their 0-16 season with a heartbreaking loss to the Steelers
It’s hard to even laugh at this one. It was brutal.
Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images
As only the Browns could, the game was filled with highs and lows. Of course, as most Browns games do, it ended with a low so deep that you could only feel bad for the Browns.
Their first possession was a disaster.
I suppose things could have been worse, like throwing a pick-six on the first play or fumbling it for a touchdown.
But this is rough:
But wait, it gets worse!
This is the good stuff:
The three-play drive took just two and a half minutes after the Steelers scored on their opening drive.
They shot themselves in the foot, but recovered anyway.
After Jabrill Peppers got his first interception on the season, the Browns went on another three-and-out.
The Steelers would drive down the field on their next possession. But the Browns got a goal line stand, which is great! What’s not great, is jumping offsides on a field goal attempt.
Somehow, this ended well for the Browns right as the first quarter was nearing its conclusion:
After the stop, Browns DT Caleb Brantley was pumped up, celebrating in the face of Marcus Gilbert:
Brantley was not done.
Myles Garrett got a strip-sack of Landry Jones with less than a minute to go, and Brantley made an incredible one-handed snag to recover the fumble:
The Browns would get points off the turnover, and make it a 21-14 game going into the locker room. They then got a touchdown after a seven-play, 68-yard drive to start the third quarter. The Browns have a chance!
JuJu Smith-Schuster silenced them quickly.
Yep, that’s a 96-yard touchdown return on the ensuing kickoff:
And this is a snow angel followed by CPR:
That made it 28-21 Steelers.
The Browns went on a long drive... time wise.
If I told you a team went on a 16-play drive that lasted over eight and a half minutes, you might imagine that ended with six points.
It didn’t, for the Browns. After going just 55 yards, they settled for a 51-yard Zane Gonzalez field goal to make it a 28-24 deficit.
The Browns were about to make a push, and crumbled.
With 12:35 left in the game, DeShone Kizer found Duke Johnson for a 32-yard gain up to the Steelers’ 37-yard line. Good, right?
Well:
It’s okay! The Browns would force a punt and get the ball back with over nine minutes to go in the game down four.
[Six plays later.]
With just under seven minutes to go, Kizer gets nailed and throws a wobbler right into the hands of the Steelers’ defense:
The end couldn’t have been more disappointing.
The Browns were faced with a fourth-and-two with just under two minutes left, and Kizer somehow stayed alive long enough to throw what looked like a possible touchdown to Corey Coleman.
The dropped it:
And that, folks, is how the Browns secured their 0-16 season.
There’s always next year.
A look at just how bad the Browns have been
See More:
