CLEVELAND -- After what might have been the sloppiest game in a season full of them, Browns coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters that rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders will get another start next week when Cleveland (3-9) hosts the Tennessee Titans (1-11).
Plenty of good tickets are still available, by the way, and that's because the Browns are dreadful. But Sanders standing in front of the huddle is one of the few certainties for Cleveland going forward after Sunday's 26-8 loss to the San Francisco 49ers served as a reminder that this team doesn't have enough offensive firepower or enough discipline to give itself a chance.
Sanders' first home start was largely forgettable. The Browns scored only one touchdown and finished with fewer than 17 points for the seventh time this season. Sanders had a few throws he certainly wants back and one home run of a throw, a 34-yarder with touch to Harold Fannin Jr. that the rookie tight end turned into a touchdown by dragging two would-be tacklers across the goal line.
But the Browns immediately gave up points and the lead before halftime. In the third quarter, Stefanski tried to convert with Fannin on fourth down instead of turning things over to the Cleveland defense. A play that was disjointed for the final 15 seconds of the play clock ended with Fannin sneaking it, fumbling the ensuing snap and the 49ers taking over in another short-field situation.
Thanks to typically awful special teams play and the aforementioned fourth-down failure, the Browns' second of the day, the 49ers jogged to victory by covering 16, 32 and 18 yards, respectively, on their three touchdown drives.
The Browns boosted two of those by allowing a 66-yard punt return in the first quarter and giving the ball back to the visiting team when Gage Larvadain muffed a punt early in the fourth quarter.
And neither of those was actually the most ridiculous special teams play of the day. That came in the third quarter when Malachi Corley inexplicably fielded a kickoff an inch from the sideline after the 49ers had gone up 17-8. Corley fell out of bounds, and instead of letting the ball go and giving the Browns a fresh possession at the 40, they started in the shadow of their own goal line and went three-and-out.
It's what they do: run, punt, fizzle and baffle with repeated special teams errors and an offense that almost never creates explosive plays. The Sanders touchdown pass was the Browns' only play over 18 yards on the day. Before garbage time, there were only four plays that gained more than 10 yards.
Cleveland got 27 of its 60 second-half yards on the final series with the game long decided. San Francisco rarely got more yards than it needed but still laughed its way to a three-score win on a day that the Browns made miscue after miscue. Sanders' first home start brought a little sizzle, and Myles Garrett notched one more sack on his way to chasing the NFL's single-season record.
But the story of the day is that the Browns are just bad, have completely wasted a strong defense and embarrassed themselves versus the 49ers while watching full-time players Maliek Collins (quad), Isaiah McGuire (lower body) and Jack Conklin (concussion) leave the game with injuries.
Last year's Browns went 3-14 with a horrible offense, a quarterback carousel and long-term worries about roster quality in important areas. This year's Browns are similar in many ways and worse at punt coverage. This offense stinks out loud, even with Sanders showing some level of promise and both Fannin and running back Quinshon Judkins putting up strong numbers (91 rushing yards Sunday) and consistently showing up in ways the team's special teams units do not.
The offensive line continues to show its age, and the new twist Sunday was that Stefanski has partially demoted guard Wyatt Teller. In his 100th career start Sunday, Teller alternated series with Teven Jenkins. Neither Jenkins nor Teller has a contract for next year, and Teller said after the game that he saw his role cut because he's not playing well enough. Outside the defense, Judkins and Fannin, who is? Collins likely suffered a significant injury in the third quarter that could end what had been a Pro Bowl-type season.
Sanders wasn't great. The Browns moved the ball early, and the Fannin touchdown capped an impressive 90-yard drive. But Sanders missed Jerry Jeudy on what would have been a big play on the game's first drive after stepping up in the pocket and seeing the receiver behind the defense. So the Browns punted instead of either scoring a 66-yard touchdown or at least landing in the red zone, and Skyy Moore took that punt 66 yards to allow the 49ers to start in the red zone.
Mostly, Sanders threw short passes. He avoided turning the ball over while going 16-of-25 for 149 yards, but the pass game never really created any momentum or established a true rhythm. Per the NFL's Next Gen Stats, Sanders had an average time of 3.37 seconds to throw -- the longest a Browns' quarterback has had in three seasons -- but he only managed five completions of more than 10 yards. After Jeudy’s illegal shift penalty forced the Browns to retry a third down in the first quarter, Sanders took a sack that pushed Cleveland back to midfield and led to a punt.
The Browns were 3-of-11 on third downs and 0-for-4 on fourth downs. They entered the day with the league’s lowest offensive success rate (33.9 percent), and though they registered a 52 percent success rate against the 49ers, they managed just eight points. The fourth-down misses loom as the two biggest swing plays of the day, outside the special teams miscues, which are killers in any setting and should be viewed as inexcusable given the Browns’ previous special teams meltdown versus the New York Jets.
For the Browns, Sunday’s loss was a hard crash back to reality after Garrett and the defense feasted on the Las Vegas Raiders and Sanders successfully threw the ball downfield in his first start. The Browns continue to rack up penalties and fail in key moments. Sanders clearly needs more time, more reps and more chances, so giving those to him is the right move.
But the feeling at the end of a miserably cold and windy Sunday in Cleveland is one of doom and defeat. The Browns’ continued inability to score, play smart football or maximize chances underscores that little big-picture progress is actually being made.
Because the Browns can't get lined up properly, can't rush for 1 yard when they really need it and can't find returners who know the rules and actually secure the ball, it's probably past time for change. Even if Sanders makes giant strides and Fannin continues to ascend, this offense -- and the overall operation -- is a hundred miles from competence.