All grown up

We -- and by we I mean every skeptic including yours truly -- were warned it will take time. We were told to be patient. It will come.

Well, it arrived Sunday in Minneapolis, Minn., and was the main reason the Browns hung a 14-7 bruising on the Minnesota Vikings in what looked very much like a throwback to the good old days of slugfest playoff football. 

This was the day the semi-maligned Cleveland defense finally grew up.

Putting as many as 10 new faces on that side of the football does not come together right away and perform well at the snap of a finger. It really does take time. Head coach Kevin Stefanski said so. So did defensive coordinator Joe Woods. 

We now have prima facie evidence, based on the last two games, that the Browns now have another unit that can change games, joining an offense that turned dangerous last season. The defense shed its growing pains and grew up in a major way,

It began last Sunday with a nine-sack beatdown of the Chicago Bears. The only similarity between the Bears and Vikings is they reside in the same division. Let's see what they can do against a better team.

The Vikings are much more powerful offensively. This was a more stringent test. And brother did they respond despite losing two starters in the secondary. Rookie cornerback Greg Newsome II (calf) didn't dress and strong safety Ronnie Harrison Jr. was concussed in the opening quarter.

After a game-opening drive that resulted in what turned out to be the Vikings' only points of the afternoon, the Cleveland defense choked off an offense that averaged 425 yards and 25 first downs a game. Sunday, it was 255 yards and 16 first downs.

The Bears game, as it turns out, was a sneak preview of what was to come. Woods' defense was quick, aggressive, rarely out of position and arrived at the football with stunning speed. The pass rush began slowly, then got downright nasty, throwing off the timing of Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, causing him to deliver the ball often times before he wanted to.

Woods, whose soft approach on defense has been criticized by more than a few, beautifully choreographed a fusillade of blitzes that arrived from numerous different parts of the field and appeared to confuse and then frustrate Cousins. 

Sometimes, it showed up from the middle on a late blitz. Other times, it came from a blitzing cornerback after initially lining up in press coverage. The timing on most of them was exquisite. Cousins was sacked only twice, but was hit 10 times and hurried at least a dozen other times, 

The longer the game went, the better the defense played. And it was clearly needed on an afternoon where the Cleveland offense was just good enough to bleed the clock and keep Cousins on the bench. Solid defense on both sides was the clearly the story in this one.

The Minnesota ground game was, for all practical purposes, grounded, gaining just 65 yards. Cousins, a 74% passer entering the game, was a mere 53% passer against the Browns. With one exception, the secondary was solid against the Vikings wide receivers Adam Thielen, Justin, Jefferson and K. J. Osborn.

The only misstep occurred on the opening drive with the Vikings traveling 75 yards in 14 plays in 7:34, Jefferson hauling in a 12-yard strike as cornerback Denzel Ward, expecting inside help from free safety John Johnson III, and not getting it, reacting as if asking where was the help.

The Browns responded with s 15-play, 57-yard drive, climaxed by yet another fourth-down deja vu moment, reminiscent of what happened twice last Sunday when the Bears sacked Baker Mayfield on fourth down on the first two possessions.

This time, the Cleveland quarterback on fourth and four from the Vikings six was dropped by Everson Griffen, who beat left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. 

Two possessions later, Stefanski crafted and Mayfield captained an 18-play, 64-yard scoring march that took 8:39 off the clock. It was climaxed by a Kareem Hunt one-yard burst only after getting significant help as Stefanski did his fourth-down thing again. 

Mayfield's fourth-down pass from the Vikings two fell incomplete, but Minnesota linebacker Eric Kendricks was flagged for holding. Three plays later, Hunt barged in. And then the Vikings' special teams messed up on the point after.

Ex-Brown Sheldon Richardson was late getting off the field as the teams lined up and the Vikings called time out. Problem was they had exhausted their timeouts and were penalized for delay of game. After the the ball was placed at the one, Stefanski reasoned two points sounded much better.  Enter the seldom-used Andy Janovich.

The fullback lined up slot left, tight to the formation. He motioned right and slipped into the end zone at the snap, arriving all by his lonesome. The only thing that could mess it up was dropping the ball. He didn't and the Browns had a lead they never relinquished.

The Browns tacked on a couple of Chase McLaughlin field goals -- 48 and 53 yards -- to make it a seven-point game, but the Vikings were not coming back in this one, not the way the Cleveland defense played.

After their big opening possession, the Vikings' next 10 drives, which consumed just 16:51, resulted in 48 plays, 188 yards (101 on the last two desperation drives), five three-and-outs, six punts, two turnovers on downs, and a pick by cornerback Greedy Williams on the play following McLaughlin's 53-yarder with about six minutes left in regulation. It was Cousins' first interception of the season.

It has been a long time since Browns fans have enjoyed this kind of defense. Even though the score was close for a long time, the lead did not really feel threatened at any time. The game ball in this one without question should go to Joe Woods.