They have arrived

During the course of a football season, teams find out a lot about themselves along the way. Take the Browns, for example, Sunday in Kansas City in the divisional playoff game against the Chiefs.

Even though they dropped a 22-17 heartbreaker to the Chiefs, they walked off the field knowing they belonged. Naturally, there's little solace knowing the season is over after one of the most memorable seasons in recent franchise history, but now they know they can hang with the big boys. 

Except for a defense that must and almost assuredly will be addressed seriously in the offseason and can be pointed at as one of the major reasons the Browns did not advance to the AFC championship game next Sunday. They came a lot closer than most believed.

A few veteran observers of the National Football League believed the Browns were on the verge of something special and were at least a year away from making significant noise. But certainly not this. Not scaring and pushing arguably the league's best team to the limit.

There is no shame in losing as they did. In doing so, they sent a message to the rest of the NFL after impressive offensive performances in two post-season games. They raced well past competitive and now stand tall as contender.

In a game rife with gambles by head coach/playcaller Kevin Stefanski, the Browns pushed the defending Super Bowl champions to the edge before the defense for the umpteenth time this season failed to come up big with the game hanging in the balance.

The Browns had made up most of a 19-3 deficit with a pair of second-half touchdowns by Jarvis Landry and Kareem Hunt after a first half that saw the offense puzzlingly sputter. They actually had a decent shot at taking the lead.

The Chiefs were ripe to be upset. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes II, who had toyed with the Cleveland defense all afternoon until getting whacked and knocked dizzy by Cleveland linebacker Mack Wilson on a third-and-a-foot run midway through the third quarter, was in the dressing room with a concussion.

Chad Henne, a 13-year journeyman most people thought was out of football, had taken over and produced just a field goal. Four minutes and change remained in regulation after the Browns punted. All they needed was a stop against a team that had not punted all afternoon. Just one measly stop.

Stefanski, who was perfect on three fourth-down gambles, played his final, as it turned out, gamble of the day, betting his defense would finally do the job, especially with Mahomes in the dressing room. So much for gambling perfection.

For some reason, which will probably be explained later, the Cleveland defense overshifted to the strong (or right) side of the Chiefs' formation as the clock moved relentlessly, protecting against the possibility of wide receiver Tyreek Hill or tight end Travis Kelce making a play. That left the weak side open.

Henne took advantage moments later when, after taking a six-yard sack courtesy of Myles Garrett, found wide open space around the left side with nary a Brown defender in sight and lumbered 13 yards and two feet on a third and 14 with exactly two minutes and no timeouts left. 

Then Chiefs head coach Andy Reid boldly called a little five-yard pass on fourth and a foot to the reliable Hill, who had eight receptions for 110 yards on the afternoon, choking off any possibility of a Cleveland comeback. 

Frankly, I expected this one to be more of a blowout with the Browns playing catchup all afternoon with an offense quite capable of doing just that. It wasn't until Stefanski finally woke up and unleashed the ground game in the second half that the Browns came alive on that side of the football.

Mahomes led the Chiefs to 19 first-half points on all four possessions, while the Browns mustered just a Cody Parkey field goal. (It would have been 23 points had Harrison Butker not missed an extra point and chip-shot field goal.)

Their deepest penetration during the half came at the tailend of a six-play drive that died when wide receiver Rashard Higgins fumbled while stretching for the pylon at the tailend of 25-yard catch and run on a first down from the Kansas City 26.

The ball slipped out of his hands after a hard hit by free safety Daniel Sorensen and skittered into and then out of the end zone for a touchback. So instead of the Browns narrowing the lead to 16-10, the Chiefs stretched it to 19-3 on a short Butker field goal. 

In that half, the run-loving Stefanski mysteriously dialed up just six run plays that gained 18 miserly yards. That bears repeating. Six plays with Nick Chubb and Hunt very healthy and extremely ready. Perhaps that was because Baker Mayfield was pretty much on target with most of his 18 passes and looked confident. It didn't help this receivers dropped five passes.

Nevertheless, virtually abandoning a phase of the game that pretty much got them to this point of the season is inexcusable. Once Stefanski realized his mistake, that's when the Cleveland offense looked very much like the one that overwhelmed Pittsburgh a week ago.

After two incompletions and a Tyrann Mathieu pick to open up the second half, the head coach finally awoke and called on Chubb, who immediately gouged out 41 yards on his first two carries -- more than doubling the entire first-half output in less than a minute -- and the Browns scored on the next two possessions, including an 18-play, 75-yard semi-marathon that bled 8:17 off the clock.

It was only the second interception Mayfield has thrown in the last nearly 11 games and the first since week 14 against Baltimore. But the defense, to their credit along with uncharacteristic consecutive incomplete passes by Mahomes, forced another Butker field goal.

The Cleveland offense, operating with three men manning at left tackle, pretty much kept Mayfield clean, a Chiefs blitz resulting in his only sack. 

Rookie Jedrick Wills jr. opened up the game at the position and left with an ankle injury on the first play. He was replaced by Kendall Lamm, who lasted until he left early in the third quarter with an elbow issue. Newcomer Blake Hance took over just when Stefanski turned to the ground game and played well.

All in all, the results of this unusual season have clearly laid the groundwork for the 2021 season, giving Browns Nation more than just hope for the immediate future. It glows brightly and portends much bigger things.