Todd Monken gave the qualifier, and if you were tuning into Sunday’s postgame press conference, you knew the next couple of lines were going to be gold.
“I sit there, I know it sounds really goofy…”
The Cleveland Browns are winning goofy, all right, and their head coach couldn’t have captured the essence of one of the more improbable 4-2 starts in recent memory any better.
“You sit there in bed and you don’t want the night to end,” Monken continued. “It’s 10:30 and you’re tired as hell and you want to be up another 15, 20, 30 minutes to enjoy it, because, s—, tomorrow I’ve got to look at the offensive tape.
“And then you’ve got to move on to the next game. And until we get things squared away and move in this direction offensively, every game is going to be a scratch and claw like this. And I love that type of game with the guys we have. We’re wired for that. Our guys are wired for that. Now I prefer the other, but we’re more wired for that. And, man, it’s so cool.”
Todd Monken isn’t mincing words about the Browns' unsustainable offense
At this point, Monken doesn’t know what to say. He actually repeated that exact line multiple times after Sunday’s 13-10 win over the Baltimore Ravens.
The Browns were outgained 163-46 in the first half. They managed only three first downs and went to the locker room trailing 10-0 at halftime. At that point, quarterback Deshaun Watson was 3 of 9 passing for 24 yards and was sacked three times.
What happened from there wasn’t exactly a flip of a switch. But like each of Cleveland’s previous three wins, there was a palpable confidence and momentum shift starting in the third quarter.
Watson was much more efficient in the second half, completing 13 of his 17 passes for 140 yards. The Browns also began finding success on the ground in ways we haven’t seen all season — with backup running backs Jaleel McLaughlin and Audric Estime carrying the football.
Per ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi, “Cleveland had a season-high 47.8% success rate on designed runs. For context, that's an above-average mark for an entire season.”
“I really don’t know what to say,” Monken said. “I mean, we go a half feeling like, did we even meet this week, coaching? I mean, did we just take the week off and show up frickin’ today? I’m joking. But when you put a lot of work into it and you do that, forget the players, as coaches you’re like, ‘boy, we could have just rolled out the same damn game plan last week and done that.’”
The Browns' formula may be flawed, but their late-game resolve is no fluke
The Browns have been winning with a formula that’s hard to take seriously, even though their young talent — starting with the incomparable Carson Schwesinger — is undeniable. They dropped to 26th in the league in first-half scoring at 7.6 points per game, per Team Rankings. They’ve been better in the second half, but not by much. The Browns are now tied with the Buccaneers for 24th in that category at 10.5 points per game.
It’s the defense that’s been carrying the team. Mike Rutenberg’s unit ranks eighth in opponent points per play and second in sacks (19). Unsurprisingly, the Browns are seventh in second-half scoring defense and ninth in the fourth quarter.
The common denominator has been a mindset to, as Monken called it, scratch and claw in the game’s biggest moments. Monken has one of the youngest rosters in football. His players don’t flinch, and it’s led to winning plays on both sides of the ball when the team has needed them most.
That’s not a make-believe quality for a team that's learning how to win. There’s so much work to do, starting with the offense figuring out how to start games on time — Cleveland is averaging 1 point in the first quarter of games this season, which ranks 30th in the NFL — but the building blocks are firmly in place.
If the Browns can finally stop these issues from becoming a season-long theme, their fun start to 2026 could morph into something very real by the start of December.
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