Sunday leftovers

Despite all the chaos that has accompanied the Browns throughout the 2021 season and the disappointment  of owning a 7-8 record and residing in the AFC North basement after 15 games, they still have a shot at qualifying for the postseason for the second year in a row. 

Yes they do. They really do. Honest. It's entirely possible, believe it or not, after all this losing.

It's still more of a possibility than a probability at this point, though, because certain outcomes have to fall into place next weekend in order for the dream scenario to actually become a reality. Here's what the landscape looks like now.

The Cincinnati Bengals lead the division at 9-6 after walloping Baltimore Sunday for the second time this season. The Ravens, who have lost four straight, fall to 8-7, a half game ahead of the 7-7-1 Pittsburgh Steelers, who are a half game in front of the Browns.

This is what needs to happen for the Browns to continue playing football after Jan. 9. First of all, they must win both games remaining on the schedule -- a week from Monday night in Pittsburgh and the season finale at home against the Bengals. Anything less than that eliminates them.

In order to set up the possibility of a Cleveland-Cincinnati division-deciding game on Jan. 9, the Bengals first must cooperate and lose their home finale to the Kansas City Chiefs next Sunday. A victory clinches the AFC North title no matter what else happens. Easier said than done.

The Chiefs, who pummeled the Steelers Sunday, have won eight in a row to win the AFC West, but have not clinched the American Conference's best record and a bye in the first round of the playoffs. They have to keep winning to hold off the charging Tennessee Titans for the bye, pretty much guaranteeing a competitive game in Cincy.

A Cleveland victory in Pittsburgh, which happens about as often as a total solar eclipse, and Cincinnati loss to the Chiefs guarantees a division-clinching game in the Browns' home finale. Odds on that eventuating fall somewhere between "no way" and "stranger things have happened."

If it falls that way, the Bengals will arrive for the game with only one goal in mind: Revenge for the 41-16 spanking the Browns delivered in Cincinnati in week nine, a game where Browns cornerback Denzel Ward set the tone with a 99-yard pick six on the game's opening drive and the Bengals dominated the stats sheet.

Nick Chubb scored twice, one on a 70-yard gallop, and Baker Mayfield threw a pair of scoring passes. But that was then, This is now when the Bengals are 4-2 after that game and the Browns have won only twice in that span

One team is trending upward; the other spiraling and efforting to find themselves. Both are on a path to play for extra money games. The Browns, after all this nonsense, find themselves in a position to control their own fate. Whether they are good enough to reverse what has turned into another hopeless finish is the big question.

Right now, though, one thing is certain. Losing is decidedly not an option.

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Another question: When is Kevin Stefanski going to turn Nick Chubb loose? Answer later.

I mean really loose, as in at least 30 touches a game, being in the huddle on third and short, flanking wide and/or slotting as a receiver in a naked backfield situation, and being in the game when clutch plays are a priority. That kind of loose. 

Like the Bengals do with Joe Mixon, the Tennessee Titans do with Derrick Henry (when healthy), the Minnesota Vikings do with Dalvin Cook and the Indianapolis Colts do with Jonathan Taylor. Bellcows who frequently make the difference between winning and losing.

When you have a unique talent like Chubb, you maximize that talent, not minimize. Too many times in Stefanski's world, Chubb, who turns 27 (Monday), doesn't seem to fit. And I can't figure out why.

The head coach and playcaller wants his offense to be aggressive. Does he not see Chubb gives him the best opportunity to sustain drives with his bullish approach to running with a football? He leads the NFL  annually in broken tackles and yards after contact. Can't get much more aggressive than that.

Chubb's style wears down defenses and is close to being the perfect weapon in the fourth quarter of games when either protecting a lead or building on it. Stefanski gives opposing defenses a break when he tethers his best running back to the bench on occasions.

So when is he going to turn Chubb loose? Probably never as long as he is the head coach and playcaller. Sure hope I'm wrong.

***

Credit to Mayfield for not using his prolonged COVID-19 absence as the reason for leaving a malodorous aroma behind that befitted his four-interceptions performance as the Browns left Green Bay in the wake of their 24-22 loss to the Packers Saturday.

"I don't think it was anything preparation-wise mentally," he said, not using a total lack of practice time as an excuse. "It was just missed throws. Uncharacteristic and I just hurt this team. That's the most frustrating thing.

"I've had a ton of reps making those throws and expect myself to make them. . . . I'd be (here) giving an excuse that I haven't practiced, but I'm a quarterback in the NFL and I need to make those throws. I have before time and again. I'll learn from my mistakes. I hurt this team. There's no excuse."

Got that right.

***

The restructured offensive line had an interesting evening. With Nick Harris replacing JC Tretter at center, Blake Hance back at right tackle and Joel Bitonio manning left tackle again, Mayfield was sacked five times and hit at least another half dozen times in his 41 dropbacks.

They saved their best for the ground game, which looked a lot like it did last season and the early part of this season, grinding out 217 yards behind some terrific blocking by Harris, who showed he's a better pivot than guard, and guards Wyatt Teller and Michael Dunn. They looked especially sharp on screens.

Once Stefanski begins to realize his ground game is really pretty good, especially on the edges where wide receivers and tight ends join in on the fun to open holes for Chubb, he just might ponder returning the run-pass ratio closer to 50-50 than the 60-40 it has become in favor of the pass.

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Finally . . . Wide receiver Rashard Higgins turned in a five-catch, 58-yard performance on six targets in his return to the starting lineup. Four of the grabs produced first downs. . . . Tight end Harrison Bryant and rookie wideout Anthony Schwartz were each targeted just once, Both passes were caught in the end zone. . . . Corey Bojorquez punted five times for the Packers. Dustin Colquitt of the Browns was called on only once midway through the fourth quarter. . . . Myles Garrett, laboring with a badly injured groin muscle, managed just one tackle and one hit on Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers while playing 52 of the club's 59 snaps.  . . . Safety M. J. Stewart, who seemed to be in on just about every play, had 10 tackles; all but one was solo. . . . Green Bay linebacker De'Vondre Campbell topped him with 13 stops, 12 solo.