Cleveland Browns Week 8 grades: Failures rule as dysfunction prevails

The Cleveland Browns had a good opportunity to pick up some momentum this season with a win against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Instead, they failed again

If you were a teacher and trying to give these Cleveland Browns a grade for what we all just witnessed this past week in the loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers most of them would be giving them a failing grade, especially since this team had aspirations of going to the Super Bowl this year.

Instead, the team is holding on hope to maybe pulling out a win against the helpless Detroit Lions in three weeks. In between, the Browns travel to Cincinnati next Sunday and then over to New England the following week. Both teams are winning clubs and both will be ready to take it to these dysfunctional Browns.

Why such chaos this season? What has happened to coach Kevin Stefanski and that sounding board of “one game at a time”. Instead, he keeps wanting to take all the blame and saying he has to be better in these post-game press conferences.

Coach, the players have to be better and I, unfortunately, I believe the number of strong personalities in the locker room, that was there before you arrived in Berea, are starting to win out in their battle to always make excuses after games because they are not producing on the field.

Maybe that’s the reason or maybe it’s not but the Browns stand at a very mediocre 4-4 on the season and face a huge challenge if they have any hope of making it into the playoffs. I think Stefanski has hit a wall in his sophomore season and that factor has led this team to revert back to the Freddie Kitchens days, where the players are controlling the messages coming out of the locker room instead of Stefanski.

And that is a very bad sign for a team eying prosperity.

So with that dilemma, let’s give each part of the team a grade for the game. We’ll start with the special teams, the only group that consistently has done well every week.

Cleveland Browns Special Teams Grade: A

This part of the team has been the best all season. Placekicker Chase McLaughlin drove home an extra point and a field goal of 30 yards. On Sunday, while watching the game in the stands of First Energy Stadium I was watching McLaughlin and his mental preparations when he might be needed to make a game-winning field. That didn’t happen in real-time but I love that we have a kicker that is ready at a moment’s notice and has been nothing less than dependable this season.

Punter Jamie Gillan was great too in the game as he averaged nearly 50 yards a kick in four punts. He certainly helped the Browns defense out at times but the defense failed on its own late.