Underachievers anonymous

It's really quite simple. Here we are roughly halfway through the 2021 National Football League season and the Browns have either forgotten how to win games or become incapable of doing so when it counts. Maybe both.

Yep, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and his 39-year-old body did it again Sunday, stealing a 15-10 victory simply by letting the Browns self destruct, lifting his career record against them to 25-2-1, including 12-2-1 in Cleveland. Suffice it to say, Browns fans will not miss him after he retires at the end of the season en route to his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction..

The loss was the Browns' third in the last four games (including two at home). They now stand 4-4 with victories over Houston, Chicago, Minnesota and Denver, teams with a combined record of 11-19 (not counting late Sunday or Monday night games). The four losses have been dished out by Kansas City, Los Angeles Chargers, Arizona and now Pittsburgh, teams with a combined record of 18-11 (ditto). 

Coming into this season, the Browns were regarded by many in the NFL community as one of the top teams in the entire league. Solid, even dangerous, on offense, on the come on defense with practically a whole new cast via free agency. 

A .500  record at this point was completely unexpected and is unacceptable. Or should be. If this team is better than last season's 11-5 group, why isn't it winning games that must be won? That is how good teams become solid teams. And solid teams become great teams. And great teams become championship teams. Beat the teams you should and split with the others.

The Browns are so far removed from any of those categories now, it will be extremely interesting to see how head coach Kevin Stefanski handles his team from now on. Right now, it is a team with no clear direction. The offense is stagnant and the defense is clueless in the clutch. He's got major damage control to address.

Coaches like to say when things go wrong to "find a way" to do your job better. Well, the Browns sure have a lot of finding to do.

You know it's bad when Jarvis Landry, inarguably the most reliable member of the team, drops key and very catchable passes and fumbles at a critical time. The fumble didn't hurt because of excellent transition defense, but the drops were deflating.

And it's bad when the Steelers hold the Browns, the best running team in the league, to less than 100 yards on the ground even with what is presumed a healthy Nick Chubb. who put up only 61 yards on 16 carries. Pittsburgh's defensive line, which has had problems stopping the run this season, beat the Browns' offensive line off the snap all afternoon with six-and seven-man fronts.

The answer, it sure would appear, is the Browns can't -- and eventually don't -- win the games they need to win even though they are better from a talent standpoint. They almost always come up short when it counts. The offense, in particular, is playing right now with what sure looks like no confidence.

The only good news about the offense Sunday was Baker Mayfield, playing with a torn labrum and broken shoulder bone in his non-throwing arm, came out unscathed from a physical standpoint. He was sacked four times, three of which were of the coverage variety by a solid Pittsburgh secondary.

After the game, Mayfield was realistic. "It's on all on us," he said. "Everybody is going to point fingers at a few plays, but the fact is we just didn't get into a rhythm today, We stubbed our toe a few times. . . . just didn't make the plays we needed to win."

In reality, there was a reason for toe stubbing in play here. The reason worked on the side of the football opposite the Cleveland offense. It's a smothering defense designed to throw off the kind of rhythm so important to the Cleveland attack. 

After a decent first two series that produced 114 yards and a Chase McLaughlin field goal in the opening quarter, the Steelers' defense tightened and racked up back-to-back three-and-outs (combined -5 yards from scrimmage) and permitted just one first down in the second quarter 

A rare bad decision by Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin kept the halftime score at 3-3, the lowest score this season at the half in the NFL. A botched fake field goal attempt by Steelers kicker Chris Boswell, who had tied the game with a 31-yard field goal in the second quarter, knocked him out of the game.

Boswell was drilled by Browns defensive lineman Jordan Elliott after his pass fell incomplete in the end zone late in the first half. He did not return, forcing Tomlin to go for two points after touchdowns.

The Browns took a 10-3 lead on their first possession of the second half with an eight-play, 86-yard march, featuring Chubb's longest run of the afternoon (21 yards) and a 21-yard connection with tight end Harrison Bryant, D'Ernest Johnson stepped the final l0-yards after a nice cutback at the point of attack. That, as it turned out was it for the offense.

Roethlisberger answered immediately with a 12-play 88-yarder, rookie running back Najee Harris  scampering the final  eight yards, hurdling over two defenders at the goal line. The two-point attempt failed to keep the Browns in front by a point. Harris was a workhorse with 29 touches and 120 yards from scrimmage.

On their next possession, the Steelers traveled 81 yards and reached the Cleveland two in nine plays. Tomlin gambled on fourth down after the Browns held on the first three plays, 6-5 rookie tight end Pat Freiermuth outjumping Browns safety Ronnie Harrison Jr. for the score. Again, the two-point try failed.

The Browns still had a chance, actually two, but chances mean little if they aren't taken advantage of. Landry fumbled away the first opportunity at the Pittsburgh 20, ex-Brown Joe Schobert raking the ball out of the wide receiver's arms after an 11-yard gain with a Mayfield pass.

On the second, the Browns advanced to the Steelers' 24 with three minutes left thanks in large part to a questionable roughing-the-passer call on Pittsburgh linebacker Alex Highsmith. The drive failed when Landry, who had dropped one pass earlier in the drive, dropped a catchable one in first-down territory on fourth down.

The stats pretty much tell the story of this game, the Browns with one exception looking like a team stuck in mud after a promising start. Their first two possessions produced 21 plays and 108 yards; the last seven only 37 more plays for 200 yards.

The Browns limited the Steelers offense to just 20 plays and 49 yards on the first three series, but Roethlisberger and his crew busted out with 321 yards in 49 plays the rest of the way, Harris doing the bulk of the work. 

There are still nine games left, argue those who lean toward optimism, and this club is starting to get healthier after an avalanche of injuries robbed them of some valuable talent. Not to worry. It will get better.

Sure there are nine games left, argue those who lean toward pessimism -- or, as I like to call it, realism -- and this team better start winning now against a tougher second-half schedule, starting next Sunday in Cincinnati. 

Time for this underachieving team to start overachieving. In other words start knocking off teams it should or last season's fun season will become nothing more than an aberration and a nice remembrance.