CINCINNATI, Ohio — Stop me if you’ve heard this before.
The Cleveland Browns couldn’t keep themselves down on Sunday.
For a team whose motto in recent years has been “tough, smart, responsible,” their motto in 2024 really just needs to be one word: Undisciplined.
With a 24-6 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals that they completely blew, look no further than two big chances on Sunday.
The Browns looked pretty good early on when Jerome Ford had a 66-yard run on Cleveland’s first play from scrimmage.
Cleveland appeared ready to score and made it to the Cincinnati 1-yard line. But on a first-and-goal carry, D’Onta Foreman, who had been inactive for the past six games, fumbled the ball at the goal line. Bengals safety Vonn Bell forced it and then recovered.
Instead of leading 7-0, the Browns were down 7-0 about five minutes later when Cincy turned the takeaway into a 2-yard touchdown from Joe Burrow to Tee Higgins.
It was a poor start that quickly deteriorated as Cleveland struggled to move the ball downfield – while Dorian Thompson-Robinson had 15 yards at halftime, the Browns had 0 net passing yards at the end of the first half and were trailing trailing 17-0 at halftime when Cade York, Cleveland’s former fourth-round pick, hit a 59-yard field goal in the final seconds of the second quarter.
But the Browns actually showed some signs of life coming out of the break.
On their first drive, they managed 11 plays and 70 yards, ending with a 4-yard TD run by Ford, as they converted two third-down plays and Jerry Jeudy made a DPI call on another to end the drive to keep life.
With Cleveland trailing 17-6 after Dustin Hopkins missed an extra point attempt, the Browns were ahead once again. From their own 36, they made it to the Cincy 11 at the end of the third quarter.
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On the first play of the fourth quarter, Thompson-Robinson scampered into the end zone for a touchdown, but it was thwarted when tight end Jordan Akins was called for a stop.
After an incompletion against Jeudy, rookie receiver Jamari Thrash was whistled for holding on to a 3-yard Ford run, bringing Cleveland back to the Cincy 22.
Facing second-and-20, Thompson-Robinson fumbled on a scramble but thankfully recovered at the Bengals’ 8. On the very next play, his pass intended for David Njoku was intercepted in the end zone by safety Jordan Battle.
The game was actually over, even though there were still 13:32 minutes left to play.
With just those two touchdowns and the missed extra point, Cleveland would have been up 21-17, and a completely different scenario would have ensued at the end of the game.
Instead, it was just another example of the Browns’ lack of discipline and consistency when it came to penalties (they had 115 penalties today, one of the most penalized teams in the league) and protecting the football (27 penalties today) attested to that 30th place in the league).
Even when the Browns showed good spirits in the middle of a terrible season, they just couldn’t get out of the way.
It has been the story of this game once again and has proven time and time again that it is the story of a 2024 season that is now 3-12.
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