CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Bad news, Bears.
The Hail Mary was not answered. Joe Flacco to David Njoku is a deadly combination. Dustin Hopkins remains clutch with his fourth game-winning field goal with 32 seconds remaining to give the Browns a 20-17 win over the Bears Sunday afternoon at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
Here’s our top Brownie Bites from a wild one that secured win No. 9.
Deep breath. Exhale. You can not make this up. The Browns are now 9-5 and a step closer to returning to the playoffs.
Cleveland is now 5-0 in games decided by 3 or fewer points and 7-1 at home, matching their best record at Cleveland Browns Stadium with the Jets coming to town December 28.
Justin Fields’ Hail Mary at the gun bounced around for what seemed like an eternity in the end zone. “I blacked out,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski joked. It eventually ended up in backup safety D’Anthony Bell’s hands. “I just [saw] everybody jump up,” Bell said. “So my first instinct was, we've been watching plays on the same thing, so my first instinct was try to run to the front and make sure nobody else caught it. So I was going to try to dive on the ground to stop him from catching it. It popped up into my hands. So lucky catch, I guess.” Pretty much everyone’s heart was in their throat before Bell came down with it. “Damn near s*** myself dog,” Njoku said. “But luckily our defense made an exceptional play, sealed the game and that was it.”
According to ESPN stats and information, Sunday’s win was a franchise record fifth game-winning score in the final two minutes of regulation this season. “Who could have wrote this story? I mean, not even Dr. Seuss,” defensive end Myles Garrett said. “It doesn’t get more abstract than what we’ve gone through, but hell, we’re making the most of it, having fun with it.” According to NFL research, the Browns had previously lost their last 49 games when trailing by 10 in the fourth quarter until Sunday. Their last win came in Week 5 in 2014 at Tennessee.
Hopkins continues to shine. Two more makes give him a franchise record 33 field goals this season, including the game-winner from 34-yards away with 32 ticks on the clock as the rain stopped and sun came out just in time for the kick. “I try not to look at the [forecast], what it’s gonna be, how bad or how good,” Hopkins said. “It’s just like well it’ll be what it’ll be on Sunday and I’ll have to in real time see what it’s doing to my ball flight in warmup and will adjust accordingly… Corey [Bojorquez] and Charley [Hughlett) have done so good all year like I’m getting such good looks on the ball. Is this our third or fourth rain game? So anyway rain, wind, in between I’m getting such good looks at the ball which makes a huge difference for me so kudos to these guys. Shoot and my line, line blocking all you guys. I can’t forget the big fellas.” Hopkins’ 33-yard field goal made it a one possession game again and cut the Bears lead to 17-10 in the fourth quarter.
Flacco completed 28 of 44 passes for 374 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions to win his second straight as the Browns’ starter. “Believe me, part of you wants to crawl into a hole somewhere and hide from everybody, but you can’t do that —especially, somebody like me,” Flaco said of the turnovers. “I mean, I’ve been in this league a long time and you’ve seen so much happen. You just have to keep your eyes on what’s next. You have to continue to look forward and continue to have faith that your teammates are going to get themselves in the right positions for you to get the ball to them. It might not happen, and today it just happened to work out for us.”
Njoku was sensational again. His 34-yard catch and run on a third-and-15 with less than 2 minutes to play moved the Browns into field goal range for the game winner. “It's not me. It's, a team effort,” Njoku said. “Everybody from the kicker to the snapper to offense defense to the team. It's everybody. It's not me. I mean, the last thing I want you guys to think is that it was my doing… It was a team effort that we were able to win.” Njoku caught 10 passes for 104 yards – both career highs for the 2017 first-round pick. “He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever been around and the growth that he’s made both as a person and a player,” Stefanski said. “He’s got that mentality where he fights for everything and I mean, he put it on display today. He really did.” Njoku capped a 12-play, 85-yard drive with an incredible catch in the back of the end zone to tie the game at 7 with just under 4 minutes before halftime. It was the third TD catch in two weeks for Njoku and a career-best fifth on the season, the most for a Browns tight end since Gary Barnidge caught nine in 2015. “He’s been awesome,” Flacco said. “When you get the ball in his hands, he’s such a strong runner. I don’t think – you probably don’t get a great chance to see what he does in the run game and how physical he is, but you do get a chance to see that when he gets the ball in his hands and it’s just the kind of player he is. Started the drive with him and it was a huge play by him to get us down in the field goal range there.”
Amari Cooper tightroped the sideline on a 51-yard touchdown to tie the game at 17 with 3:08 remaining after Flacco threaded the needle and dropped the ball in perfectly between a pair of Bears defenders. “That was all Joe. That had nothing to do with me.,” Cooper said. “Not many quarterbacks could make that throw, man. When I was running across, I felt that I was open a little bit, but the window was so small that if he hadn't thrown it how he threw it, it would've been impossible for me to catch it. So that's all credit to Joe.” Copper finished with four catches for 109 yards and the score, which definitely makes the highlight reel. “I didn't know I would score, but I attribute the whole thing to Joe just because I played with a lot of different quarterbacks and not a lot of quarterbacks are keen enough to make the throw the way that he made it,” Cooper said. “It was incredible.”
Cleveland and Chicago exchanged punts eight times to start the game with each team kicking it away four times. The final punt total: Chicago 10, Cleveland nine.
The stalemate was broken when Bears defensive back Eddie Jackson found himself in the right spot to return Flacco’s throw 27 yards to the one. Then came a bizarre series from the 1 in which Cleveland was flagged twice for 12 men, Martin Emerson for defensive pass interference, the Bears for a false start attempting the tush push from the one blade of grass in front of the goal line. Eventually Fields found tight end Cole Kmet in the back corner of the end zone after escaping Myles Garrett for a 5-yard touchdown and a 7-0 Bears lead.
Flacco’s second pick came off a tipped ball intended for Cedric Tillman early in the third quarter that Bears linebacker Tremaine Edwards returned 45 yards for a touchdown and 14-7 lead with 13:50 to play in the quarter.
After the Browns recovered a muffed punt just outside the Bears 20, Flacco promptly threw his third interception of the afternoon. Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson jumped in front of a wide-open Njoku for the pick at the 1. Stevenson ran it back 34 yards out to the 35 giving Chicago 10 interceptions in three games. “I'm sure he's had a three-interception game before,” Cooper said. “I'm actually positive about that even though this is my first year playing with him. I think as a veteran you understand the ebbs and flows of the game. Sometimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles. You go out there and throw a couple interceptions, but it's never how you start. It's how you finish.”
Left guard Joel Bitonio walked off with trainers at the 6:58 mark of the first quarter and that was it for the run game. “I just can’t move right now,” Bitonio said after the game. “We’ll see how it goes this week. My back just locked up that’s all it is right now. Michael Dunn replaced him at right guard leaving Wyatt Teller as the only starting offensive lineman still standing. Cleveland finished with – yards rushing. Backup center Nick Harris was also shaken up in the fourth quarter forcing rookie Luke Wypler into service for a play.
Cairo Santos, who didn’t get to try a 55-yard field goal before halftime, connected from 41 to push Chicago’s lead to 17-7 in the third quarter.
Cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. was the game captain. Former Browns running back Peyton Hillis was the Dawg Pound captain and guitar smasher.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Ohio governor Mike DeWine took in the game from a suite. The Browns current stadium situation was discussed while Goodell was in town this weekend.