Browns, Chubb snap 17-season playoff drought
CLEVELAND — The Factory of Sadness turned into the Factory of Gladness.
Long-suffering Browns fans and their team are going back to the playoffs for the first time since 2002. The Browns, who finished the season at 115, snapped their league-long 17-season playoff drought with a 24-22 victory over the Steelers on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium.
It was the longest active streak in the NFL.
Fans banged on the seats inside FirstEnergy Stadium and chanted “Pittsburgh Sucks.”
Baker Mayfield, who vowed that he could turn this team around if anyone could, cheered with the fans as he walked off the field.
Myles Garrett, who was captain for this game, ran over and patted Mason Rudolph after the game after their tortuous helmet incident from last year.
The Browns will now have a chance to do it all over against the Steelers (12-4) in the first round of the playoffs next weekend in Heinz Field. In that game, the Steelers will have have Ben Roethlisberger, T.J. Watt and other star players back.
“I’m proud of that football team, really proud of those guys,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said after the game. “... And I’m happy for our fans. They deserve this. They’ve been waiting for this. ... I’m very happy for Northeast Ohio, for Browns fans all over the world. They are not far from our minds. Twelve thousand strong, they got to see it live, and people around the country, we feel their support.
“Also want to make note, I gave a game ball to Jimmy Haslam and Dee and the whole group. ... They’ve been right there for us. ... I’m really proud of this for all the people who’ve been with the organization for a long time.”
Ahead 24-16 late in the fourth quarter, the Browns had a chance for some breathing room at the end, but they failed to get into field goal range. A fourth-down pass intended for Rashard Higgins fell incomplete, and the Steelers took over at their 35 with 3:37 remaining.
Mason Rudolph, who had already hit two passes of 41 yards in the game, found Diontae Johnson for 47 yards to the Browns 10. A few plays later, Rudolph threw a 2-yard TD pass to JuJu Smith-Smith Schuster to pull to within 24-22. But Rudolph’s two-point pass to Chase Claypool fell incomplete, and the 12,000 fans inside FirstEnergy Stadium roared like 68,000.
Browns tight end Stephen Carlson recovered the onside kick and the Browns put the game away when Mayfield converted a third-and-2 on a keeper.
Stefanski was asked if he could reflect on what the playoff berth means for him as a first-year coach and given all the challenges of the pandemic.
“I like this football team,” Stefanski said. “I like how this football team works, I like how they respond when their backs are against the wall. ... We’ll save the reflection for much later.
“We’re in the dance but we have a lot of work to do this week, and we want to keep this thing going.”
Rudolph hit his second 41yard pass of the game, this time to Claypool, to the Browns’
36. It led to a 46-yard field goal that pulled the Steelers to within 10-9 with 8:29 left in the third quarter.
But then the tide turned for the Browns, and they remembered the playoffs were on the line.
Mayfield hit a wide-open Austin Hooper with a 2-yard TD pass on the left side of the end zone that increased their lead to 17-9 with 3:48 left in the half. Mayfield hit David Njoku with a huge 14-yard pass on third and 5 to keep the drive going, and then scrambled 28 yards up the left side to the 16.