Cleveland Browns lose to the Indianapolis Colts, 31-28

The Cleveland Browns fought back but ultimately fell to 0-3 on the season after losing to the Indianapolis Colts.

The Cleveland Browns lost to the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday by the score of 31-28.

The loss drops the Browns to 0-3 on the season, and the team has now lost 28 of their past 30 games, dating back to their last road win in Week 5 of the 2015 season.

Things are about to get real ugly, real fast in Browns Town.

The game was essentially lost in the second quarter, when the Browns allowed the Colts to score on three consecutive possessions. Cleveland had few answers in the quarter in face of the Jacoby Brissett experience, as the Colts quarterback had a rushing touchdown (his second of the game) and a passing touchdown in leading the Colts to a 28-7 lead.

The Browns looked to get back into the game as quarterback DeShone Kizer led a nice scoring drive just before the half, going 75 yards in 10 plays and hitting rookie tight end David Njoku with a one-yard touchdown pass.

Even though they were trailing 28-14, the Browns had opportunities to get back into the game in the third quarter, only to see things continue to fall apart on offense.

The defense forced the Colts to punt on each of their first two possessions of the third quarter, but Cleveland had two interceptions on poor throws by quarterback DeShone Kizer and a punt on three consecutive possessions, essentially ending the game.

The Browns did what they could, however, as they cut the lead to 31-28 on a touchdown run by Kizer just before the two-minute warning.

It was another typical day for the Browns, one that included:

• Far too many penalties – 10 for 113 yards overall – including four offensive pass interference calls
• More drops by the wide receivers, at least eight, with everyone getting in on the fun. (Although you will likely only hear that Kenny Britt dropped the ball).
• More inaccurate throws by Kizer – although his completion percentage of 47 percent was hurt by all the dropped passes.
• Far, far too many passes (47) and not enough runs (21).

This is a loss that is going to cause a lot of agita over the next week as many believed the Colts were going to be easy pickings for the Browns as they embarked on the “easy part” of their schedule.

Jackson’s unwillingness to commit to the running game remains a mystery, especially with Kizer and the passing game continuing to struggle.

The defense is feeling the impact of not having defense end Myles Garrett on the field as they can’t get any kind of consistent pressure on the quarterback, which leaves the secondary in a rough spot.

The wide receivers – and that is all of them – can’t get out of their own way. The only time the Browns have any success in the passing game is when they throw to running back Duke Johnson or tight ends Seth DeValve and Njoku. Those three combined for 10 receptions for 122 yards on 15 targets, while everyone else had 12 receptions for 120 yards on 32 targets.

There is a lot going wrong with the team right now and there are no easy answers on the horizon, outside of Garrett getting healthy.

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Having said that, there is no reason to even consider benching Kizer for Kevin Hogan or Cody Kessler. When Jackson named Kizer the starter everyone knew, or should have known, that the struggle is real. The only way to fix that is to let Kizer work his way out of the problem and take the lumps along the way.

For now, victory Monday in Cleveland has been delayed for another week.

And it is going to be a long seven days until the next game.