Browns: The Steelers game may be a haunting night as Cleveland limps into Halloween matchup

The Browns host the Steelers on Halloween.

The Browns have a huge task ahead of them on Halloween; defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers. As someone who’s seen the other end of this rivalry, through the ups and downs, it’s beyond obvious that even a bad Steelers team is worth beating. Why? Because Pittsburgh fans made sure to remind us for decades that good or not, they loved beating up on Cleveland. So bad news for Steeler Nation, as it appears Nick Chubb is getting ready to return for the game on Sunday. The elite-runner was back in practice on Monday, as was Jack Conklin. Baker Mayfield, however, remained out of practice.

So the Steelers may not face off with their kryptonite, giving them a slight chance of hope.

The Steelers aren’t 0-16 bad this year, but their offense is no threat. Their defense, however, is the stuff nightmares are made of. With T.J. Watt looking more like Jason Vorhees out there, ripping apart people with relative ease, while Ben Roethlisberger looks more like the old doctor from Halloween (the film franchise), Dr Loomis. One is objectively terrifying, the other just looks like he used to be.

The Browns offense will be the point of concern, mostly due to the Browns defense getting yet another weak offense to battle against, while the Browns offense getting a top tier defense. The Steelers’ defense has done some work this year, and with a banged-up Browns’ offense, the Steelers’ defense could be capable of single-handily gifting Pittsburgh s a win.

Baker Mayfield will likely miss the Steelers game

Cleveland shouldn’t expect Mayfield to pull a Gandalf the White and roll in at the last minute to make the heroic safe. Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports is claiming Mayfield’s status rests solely on his rehabilitation and his ability to protect himself when getting hit. Considering the hit that put Mayfield out indefinitely came from a shot that he couldn’t fully protect himself from, there’s reasonable concern that Mayfield may be out for a few weeks if he returns at all this season.

So that means that Case Keenum will likely start this week (and possibly longer) and that the Browns will need Chubb and D’Ernest Johnson to step up in the interim. With the weather turning sour, that shouldn’t affect things too much, as the Browns ran more in bad weather last year anyway. Andy Janovich and Kareem Hunt’s return will help with that as well, but their returns are still some time off.

Mayfield’s health is paramount. If it means he sits the rest of the year and gets surgery, so be it. The team will need to rely on the running game more than ever, and the Browns will then need to go get another quarterback should Mayfield be done for the year. While Keenum isn’t someone I’m comfortable with getting me to the playoffs, football isn’t like basketball or baseball. You can’t just pivot mid-season and bring in a new guy and expect to win.

If Mayfield is done for the year, Keenum is the only other option. Sure, you can go get a Cam Newton-type, but he’d be weeks if not a month away from being able to contribute and would only make sense as Keenum’s backup. It takes time to learn a playbook. That’s why Mayfield’s health is so important because if he struggled and played awfully, then coaches and fans could just say “well at least we have Keenum”. Yet, what happens if Keenum struggles or worse yet, gets hurt to the degree of Mayfield?

Despite the oodles of fans that Keenum has (especially on this site), I doubt anyone is willing to go in on Nick Mullens in the same way.

The Steelers game will be a spooky, and potentially haunting encounter if they fail to get the win. It’ll be worse if Mayfield goes under the knife for season-ending surgery. It’ll be even worse if more injuries are added to the growing list.

For Browns fans, Halloween is sure shaping up to be one stressful and scary day of football.