Same Old Browns: Cleveland's Ugly MNF Loss Proves It Can't Get Anything Right

There was only one thing that couldn't happen. Only one way the Cleveland Browns weren't at least going to overtime with a chance to win. Even if kicker Travis Coons couldn't nail a game-winning kick from 51 yards out, as long as it wasn't blocked and returned for a touchdown...

Oh.

Oh no.

No, yeah, that's exactly what happened. Browns nose tackle Danny Shelton, already a target of criticism for lackluster play at his actual position, was in at left guard on the kick-protection unit. Baltimore Ravens defensive lineman Brent Urban, active for his first NFL game, got past an overwhelmed Shelton, got up a hand and blocked the kick. The ball was scooped up by Ravens safety Will Hill, who took it down the sideline for the game-winning score:

Somehow, Cleveland discovered a new way to lose a game they were a heartbeat away from winning. 

It's a long, old, terribly sad story for fans of the Browns, who came to FirstEnergy Stadium hoping to at least see a rare win over the hated Ravens—also known, of course, as the original Browns franchise that moved away from Cleveland, rebranded and won a couple of Super Bowls.

It was a reasonable expectation. Baltimore, then 3-7, was just one game ahead of the Browns, then 2-8. The Ravens would be without starting quarterback Joe Flacco, starting tailback Justin Forsett, top two wideouts Steve Smith Sr. and Breshad Perriman and top tight end Dennis Pitta. Las Vegas was giving the declawed Ravens a whopping 5.5 points, per Odds Shark.

All the Browns had to do was take care of business.

At the end of its first possession, Cleveland punter Andy Lee boomed a 61-yard punt; Baltimore's rookie returner, Kaelin Clay, took it back 82 yards to the house.

The next Browns possession also ended in a punt, and backup quarterback Matt Schaub led the Ravens to a quick field goal. Down 10-0, Cleveland quarterback Josh McCown—newly elevated back into the starting role—marched the Browns on a 14-play drive that covered 67 yards and took 7:55. A Coons field goal cut the lead to seven.

Schaub was ready, though; the very next play was a 48-yard bomb to Chris Givens. Two plays later, Schaub dumped the ball off to Javorius Allen, who blew threw poor tackling attempts to score a 13-yard touchdown. Suddenly, the five-point favorites were down 17-3.

McCown got Cleveland back down the field, and he used his athleticism to extend a play for what felt like days before hitting Marlon Moore for the Browns' first touchdown. Another Coons field goal just before halftime got Cleveland back within striking distance.

Though McCown and Co. opened the second half with a three-and-out, wily veteran linebacker Karlos Dansby covered for them with a 52-yard pick-six on the ensuing possession.

Schaub was right there with an answer, though, driving 80 yards in 12 plays for another passing touchdown, this one to Kamar Aiken. McCown couldn't keep up the score-for-score pace, but Lee pinned Baltimore at its 1-yard line.

Schaub, in a rhythm, led the Ravens on a whopping 17-play, 8:07 drive...that ended in a field goal. Down 27-20, the Browns needed a breakthrough, a lightning bolt, a miraculous offensive play that could draw them even.

Instead, McCown broke down with what was later revealed as a collarbone injury, per Daryl Ruiter of 92.3 The Fan. As it became clear McCown couldn't continue, a perverse sense of excitement rippled through the crowd.

David Richard/Associated Press

Was it time?

Would head coach Mike Pettine go all the way to the end of his bench and send nominal third-string quarterback Johnny Manziel out to win the game? Might his blustery benching of Manziel on moral grounds have been all for show—and now, with a much-needed win still attainable, be over?

No.

Pettine stuck to his guns and sent theoretical No. 2 quarterback Austin Davis out there to finish the game. Davis, to everyone's surprise, delivered. Though his first pass capped a three-and-out McCown had started, on his second drive Davis succeeded where McCown had failed: He hit wideout Travis Benjamin deep for a 42-yard touchdown with just 1:55 left.

The game was knotted at 27, and the Browns needed to come up with a stop. That they did, forcing a 4th-and-1 and catching a break when Schaub failed to get the play off in time. But even though Cleveland started the next drive on its 37, it couldn't get within field-goal range.

With 56 seconds left, the Ravens suddenly had an opportunity to seal the game—but Schaub threw his second pick of the evening, this one to veteran corner Tramon Williams. It was, ridiculously, the fourth possession change since the two-minute warning. But it wasn't the last.

"One of the greatest football games you'll ever see," Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said in the postgame press conference broadcast on ESPN. "Kendrick Lewis, when the craziness all took place, was in my face just going crazy. You know, 'We never quit! We never quit! We're never gonna quit!' It reminded me of Winston Churchill."

Harbaugh, a deadpan master, delivered this with an increasingly wide grin on his face. He, as much as anyone, knew the absurdity of it all; these were two finished football teams, rummaging through their depth chart for warm bodies, playing more for draft position than playoff position.

Yet, even with every advantage handed to them in a meaningless game, even with the Ravens repeatedly giving the Cleveland fans even the smallest amount of hope, pride, relief, anything, the Browns couldn't capitalize on any of their many chances to win this game.

A video posted to Twitter from the stands (Warning: NSFW language) perfectly captured the moment, the game and what it's felt like to be a Browns fan for far too long:

Nobody knows whether McCown, Davis, Manziel or even Pettine will be wearing orange and brown in 2016. But no matter who's wearing the uniforms, it seems the organization can't figure out how to do anything right.