The Browns didn’t get the help they needed Sunday and are down to playing out the string in a season of disappointments.
They have to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night and the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday to finish the season over .500 but they will not be making a second consecutive playoff appearance.
The Bengals clinched the division title in the AFC North with a comeback victory over the Kansas City Chiefs that all but eliminated the Browns on Sunday. The Los Angeles Chargers finished the job with a victory over the Denver Broncos.
What could have been an epic showdown against Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers on Monday night has been reduced to a glorified exhibition. The Browns’ only motivation now is the chance to send Big Ben out with a loss in his last home game at Heinz Field.
The Browns will be headed to the offseason wondering what happened to a season that began full of promise but went unfulfilled. There are still two games to play, but, the only remaining unknown is where the Browns will pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
The Browns will be closer to full strength than they have been in recent games against the Steelers. They will have some reinforcements coming back from the COVID-19 list but too late to change the Browns’ fortunes.
Here is how our Browns coverage team sees the team’s chances of defeating the Steelers in Roethlisberger’s Heinz Field finale:
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Steve Doerschuk (10-5)
Game prediction: Browns 24-17. The 2020 Browns’ 11-5 regular season, capped by a win over Pittsburgh last Jan. 3, was played before sparse crowds due to COVID restrictions. The 7-8 Browns have played poorly to the big crowds of 2021. What better place to wake up than Pittsburgh?
Marla Ridenour: Baker Mayfield’s Browns future marred by five fourth-quarter chances to win, five failures
Marla Ridenour (10-5)
Game prediction: Steelers 28, Browns 17. All that ails quarterback Baker Mayfield can’t be fixed this season. Steelers will be amped by the atmosphere in what looks like Ben Roethlisberger’s last game at Heinz Field.
George Thomas (9-6)
Game prediction: Steelers 17, Browns 14. Big Ben could be ringing for the last time. Sure he’d like nothing better to stick it to the Browns one final time. The larger question for Cleveland: what are they playing for given they’ve been eliminated from the playoffs.
Marla Ridenour: In loss to Packers, Browns put together perfect audition tape to lure Aaron Rodgers
Nate Ulrich (11-4)
Game prediction: Steelers 20, Browns 17. Big Ben haunting Cleveland one last time just seems to fit the way this season has gone.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Browns at Pittsburgh Steelers Staff Predictions