The Cleveland Browns ended an 18-year playoff drought by defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, 24-22.
And in typical Browns way, they made their fans sweat.
Needed a win over their rivals with big brother, the Browns came out strong and led 24-9 early in the fourth quarter as the Steelers – led by backup quarterback Mason Rudolph – fought offensively.
They rallied for two touchdowns in the last 10+ minutes and had a chance to tie, but Rudolph’s two-point pass was incomplete.
The 11-5 browns will be the sixth seed. They’ll face the Steelers (# 3) again next week, with Ben Roethlisberger likely to be back.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield celebrates a playoff spot. (AP Photo / David Richard)
And with Baker Mayfield’s third late rebuild, the Steelers were running out of time and the Browns kicked off the postseason for the first time in nearly two decades.
Mayfield had a good day with 17 of 27 passes for 196 yards and a TD. But it was his running that gave this game a great dimension. Mayfield rushed for 44 yards six times, including the first game abandonment when time was short. He also had a 28 yard scamper who set up his own TD pass for Austin Hooper to take a 17-9 lead in the third quarter.
Nick Chubb was also involved in the attack on the ground game, racing 14 times for 108 yards, including a 47 yard TD run, to start scoring the game.
Jarvis Landry also scored a 3 yard run in the fourth quarter, and Kareem Hunt added 37 yards on the ground.
Rudolph completed 22 of 39 passes for 315 yards and two TDs and one pick, with most of his production with the Steelers ending in the second half. Pittsburgh took a two-QB approach and brought in Joshua Dobbs situationally, but it wasn’t overly effective. Dobbs made 4 of 5 passes, but only 2 yards, and also raced 20 yards on two rushes.
Roethlisberger rested this weekend as Pittsburgh had little to gain from that game when the Bills secured second AFC seed with a blowout of the Dolphins. Even so, the Steelers fought to the end before they ran out.
The story goes on
The Baltimore Ravens also won on Sunday, landing three AFC North teams in the postseason.
Brown’s broad receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones was 2 years old when Cleveland was last off-season. Mayfield was 6 years old. Brown’s head coach Kevin Stefanski was a 19-year-old sophomore defense attorney at the University of Pennsylvania. There was no Browns player in the NFL in the 2002 season.
Though it took some stressful moments for the Browns to end their post-season drought, it was worth it.
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