A ho-hum Sunday

Kevin Stefanski is keeping it predictably strait-laced as he prepares the Browns for the final game of the extremely disappointing 2021 season against the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday at home.

When the season began back in early September, this one was thought by many around the National Fotball League to be a meaningless game because the Browns, a heavy pre-season favorite, had already wrapped up the AFC North title.

It will be meaningless, though, but for an entirely different reason. Fate had a different plan for the Browns. The Bengals, too. They were supposed to bring up the rear again this season after winning just four games last season. That didn't happen, either.

But that apparently doesn't spoil what appears to be Stefanski's normal approach to the next game on the schedule regardless of the opponent or situation. In this case, it's the Bengals; the division champion Bengals.

"We want to make sure we're going to win the game first and foremost," he told the Cleveland media recently. "That's always going to be our goal anytime they're keeping score." Isn't that kind of what all coaches do? Or should do? Now tell me something I don't know.

He seemed to forget the line about finishing the season on a high note. Never mind the three-game losing streak the Browns lug into the game. Never mind an offense that has plumbed the depths of futility on a weekly basis the last two months.

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor and COVID-19 are making it a little easier to attain Stefanski's goal. Taylor is giving quarterback Joe Burrow, who struggled in the week nine hammering by the Browns, the afternoon off. And the virus idles running back Joe Mixon, who saves some of this best games for the Browns.

Burrow's outstanding sophomore season in the league has seen his star rise to the point where he is being compared to the meteoric rise of Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes II. He is is just 400 yards shy of 5,000 yards this season with 34 touchdowns and a 70% completion rate. He has instantaneously become the best quarterback in the division.

Neither team has anything of importance on the line unless you factor in the possibility of the Bengals seeking revenge for the previous battering. The Browns, on the other hand, might be thinking more along the lines of finally, finally welcoming the offseason after such a seemingly long, chaotic and arduous season.

Taylor most likely will have his starters on both sides of the ball on a pitch count as he gets ready for the playoffs in a week. With nothing to gain, making certain his team is healthy for the postseason will be his main goal with entering the playoffs with a four-game winning streak a close second.

Stefanski, meanwhile, will rely on Case Keenum to stop the Browns' three-game bleed as Baker Mayfield awaits shoulder surgery. The nine-year veteran, who should have been called on when Mayfield was clearly not the Browns' best quarterback because of health issues, makes his second start of the season.

He game-managed a 17-14 victory over the Denver Broncos in a nationally televised Thursday night game in week seven as the Browns controlled the football for nearly 37 minutes. That was the evening seldom-used running back D'Ernest Johnson burst into the spotlight with a 146-yard performance and a touchdown in the absence of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.

Keenum was 21 of 33 for 199 yards, delivered a short scoring pass to fullback Johnny Stanton IV and had no interceptions. It was also one of the few times this season Stefanski's offense was well balanced at nearly 50-50. Look for more of that kind of football against the Bengals.

That was also the game when the Cleveland defense began to play at the level expected after General  Manager Andrew Berry's overhaul on that side of the ball. That defense limited six of the last 10 opponents to less than 20 points a game, but won just three. In the losses, the offense scored just 34 points.

The season concludes with the offense fractured beyond repair. It is hard to imagine that side of the football is capable of putting as many as 20 points on the board Sunday. The question is whether veteran journeyman Brandon Allen, who fills in for Burrow, can against the Cleveland defense.

Both teams will struggle on offense. The busiest players Sunday might be punters Kevin Huber of the Bengals and the Browns' Dustin Colquitt and long snappers Clark Harris of Cincinnati and Charley Hughlett of the Browns. Make it:

Bengals 13, Browns 10