Browns Playoff: 3 good and 3 bad from season ending loss to Chiefs
By Chad Porto
The Cleveland Browns lost a heartbreaking game to the Kansas City Chiefs 22-17 on Sunday afternoon, redefining expectations long the way.
The Cleveland Browns redefined the expectations of a fanbase all year long, so it’s no surprise that fans everywhere saw the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday as avoidable. The Browns lost 22-17 in a game they should’ve won, mostly due to the fact that Patrick Mahomes gave himself a concussion after a hit from Mack Wilson sent Mahomes to the turf head first.
Thankfully Mahomes is ok now, but the Browns missed an opportunity to beat an injured Chiefs team with Mahomes unable to play. The Browns couldn’t get a stop on defense all game, no matter who was under center and the Browns shot themselves in the foot by going to the well too often on plays that didn’t work.
It seemed like Stefanski was determined to make the play-action pass on first down work, even if it didn’t. There was also the issue of bootlegging Mayfield out, only to have a Chief’s player spying on him. All in all the Chiefs did a great job game-planning for the Browns.
The team wasn’t put in a position to win, even Kevin Stefanski admits that. It’s ok to admit the coaches of the Cleveland Browns got outcoached. It’s ok to say he and Joe Woods deserve a lot of blame. No one is perfect and just because they got the team to the playoffs doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of having a bad game. That’s what happened here.
Stefanski’s a rookie coach, and he’s going to make mistakes. What’s important is that he learns from them going forward.
Let’s take a look at the good and bad of this game.