Cleveland Browns: Who’s to blame for the loss to the Chargers?

Who should take the blame for the Cleveland Browns Week 5 loss?

The Cleveland Browns dropped to 3-2 on the season in a game they should have won; so who’s to blame for the loss to the Los Angeles Chargers?

This is one of those games that will give Browns fans nightmares for some time. Or maybe it triggers some sort of PTSD.

Either way, not a good feeling to have as a fan.

So who’s to blame for the Cleveland Browns loss?

I’ll tell you who isn’t to blame; Baker Mayfield and the Browns offense.

After an abysmal performance a week ago in Minneapolis, Baker fired back today to the tune of 23-of-32 for 305 yard and two scores. He did not turn the ball over and looked like his typical self.

The Chargers aren’t a good run-stopping team and Cleveland took full advantage. The best running back duo in the NFL combined for 222 yards and three touchdowns.

Nick Chubb led the way with 161 yards and a touchdown, which was from 52-yards out. Kareem Hunt had 61 yards on the ground, scoring twice, while catching five passes for another 28 yards.

David Njoku had a breakout game for the Browns, catching seven passes for 149 yards and a 71-yard touchdown catch and run. This is the exact game many Browns fans have been hoping for from the Chief.

All of the good offense came without starting left tackle, Jedrick Wills, who did not play with an ankle injury. Blake Hance and James Hudson filled in, and Hudson even had to fill in for Jack Conklin late in the game.

So who’s to blame?

Let’s start with the defense. Cleveland gave up 493 yards of total offense and 47 points. That’s not good whatsoever and will not get the job done, especially against good teams like the Chargers.

Adding on to all of that, Los Angeles converted all three of their fourth down-conversions.

So what happened to the defense? Well, that’s simple; injuries.

Jadeveon Clowney, who has been having a great start to the 2021 campaign, was ruled out with an elbow injury. Greg Newsome missed his second straight game with a calf injury and the Browns could’ve used him on Sunday.

The defense was getting banged up both by the Chargers offense and by the injury bug.

Head coach Kevin Stefanski said after the game that Greedy Williams, MJ Stewart, and Denzel Ward, who only played briefly before bowing out with a neck injury, will all get MRIs.

That’s not good.

Injuries happen to every single team in the history of team sports, so it’s the next-man-up mentality. Injuries played a huge part in why this defense underperformed, so for that, that unit can’t be totally blamed.

So who also gets some blame?

Penalties happen in every game played, some more egregious than others. On Sunday at SoFi Stadium, the latter occurred, this time not benefitting the Browns.

On a fourth down play, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert tossed a pass in the direction of wide receiver Mike Williams. The pass was incomplete, but there was a flag laying on the field.

The call was defensive pass interference, but after the replay, the entire world knew the Browns got the raw end of the deal. Mike Williams had a hold of A.J. Green, yet Green was the one who was called?

Make it make sense.

Now explain it to me like I’m five-years old.

Los Angeles took advantage of the call and scored a touchdown to tie it at 35.

Baker was not a fan of that call.

For as much as that call was completely, and utterly bogus, the Browns still had a chance to ice the game, which leads to the person who should take the brunt of the blame:

Kevin Stefanski shoulders the most blame

For the better part of an hour, Stefanski was calling one heck of a game. The Browns offense looked like many anticipate they should.

What happened next is going to raise many eyebrows and Stefanski is going to have to live with the criticisms.

The Browns took the field with the lead and a running game that was dominating all day long, but the man who was leading the charge, Chubb, was not on the field.

Los Angeles couldn’t stop Chubb all day, and yet it was Hunt who was the back on the field when the Browns were still in control.

First down was a run by Hunt for a gain of one. Second down was an incompletion when Higgins couldn’t corral the Mayfield pass. Third down, Stefanski called a draw for Hunt, who went for three yards.

After the game, Stefanski had quite the quote as to why he drew up the third-down draw play.

This really was not something that this fan base will want to rally around. Chubb was making life difficult for the Chargers defense all game, the same game Wills missed and Bitonio got banged up in, yet wasn’t on the field for the final two series.

The Browns punted the ball away, but it wasn’t good. While I don’t consider him someone to blame in this game, punter Jamie Gillan is someone who the Browns have to seriously consider moving on from. He hasn’t been good all season and that at times has hurt the Browns. Today was one of those times.

The Chargers scored five plays and 31 seconds later and then were stopped short on the two-point conversion. Cleveland was down 47-42 with just over a minute and a half left.

The play calling:

Short pass, short pass, short pass, short pass, spike, deep ball deep ball, deep ball.

So does Stefanski not trust his own play calling? Does he not trust Baker when it matters the most? Does he not trust his receivers to make big plays?

Stefanski got outcoached again this week and it is something that seems to be happening more frequently. Before this goes any further, no the Browns are not going to fire him for a Week 5 loss, and yes, he is the coach we need to lead this team.

This is a similar, yet different script to how the Browns lost to the Chiefs in Week 1. The Browns were rockin’ and rollin’ but couldn’t finish the job. Against the Chargers, it was more of the same. The Browns had multiple chances down the stretch to finish the game off, yet Stefanski had some questionable play calling.

The good thing about this game is the fact that it’s over. Dwell on it tonight, get some rest, and come in tomorrow ready to take ownership and keep it moving. Under Stefanski, the Browns have never lost consecutive games in the regular season, so he and the team have shown that they can learn and move on.

There are a lot of people and happenings from this game that deserve some sort of the blame, but the person with the most blame to take is the guy who calls the shots, Kevin Stefanski.