Cleveland Browns instant reactions: Defense shines in Week 3 victory over Bears
By Greg Newland
The Cleveland Browns defense was dominant in their 20 point victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday. The offense did what they needed to do to get points.
The roles were reversed on Sunday as the Cleveland Browns defense showed up in a big way while the offense had their struggles. The Browns still ended up scoring 26 points, but the efficiency just wasn’t as good as we have seen in the past.
Their defense, on the flip side, played their best game since Joe Woods has been the defensive coordinator. Not only did they sack Justin Fields 9 times on Sunday afternoon, but the Chicago Bears were also limited to just 47 yards on offense.
It’s not time to panic on offense, the Browns had over 400 yards of offense, the Bears defense just played well against the run for the first 45 minutes of the game. The biggest disappointment of the day was the Browns offensive line.
Jedrick Wills looks extremely bothered by his ankle injury and the Bears also had no issues getting to Mayfield. This caused a couple of erred throws and sped up the internal clock in Mayfield’s head which makes things even more difficult.
Kareem Hunt shined in a big way on Sunday and was by far the best player on the offense. Not only did he have 81 rushing yards and a touchdown, but he also had six receptions for an additional 74 yards. We can’t forget in Odell Beckham’s debut he snagged five balls for a quiet 77 yards.
The defense was just phenomenal, Myles Garrett had 4.5 sacks while Jadaveon Clowney added 2. The constant pressure allowed the Browns to tighten up coverage and the secondary just swarmed receivers.
In his first start, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah also looked fantastic. He had four tackles, a half of a sack, as well as two pass deflections. In the role of slowing down a mobile quarterback, he was a 10 out of 10 on performance Sunday.
Next. OBJ hauls in clutch pass in first action since ACL injury. dark
Now at 2-1, the Browns head to Minnesota in Week 4 to play the Vikings and the good news is, they look ready to start playing some excellent football, especially if this ends up being the start of something special for the defense.