By Cody Roberts – Wannamakeabet Staff Writer
Arguably the worst teams in both conferences, and the only game on the slate that has no playoff implications whatsoever, the Browns look to put an end to their defeated season. With just two weeks left in the regular season they have to know that this very well could be their last shot at getting a win having to play the Steelers in week 17.
DeShone Kizer has been less than impressive in his rookie season leading all quarterbacks in interceptions, completing just 53.9% of his passes and is going up against a defense that ranks tenth with only 215 passing yards allowed per game. Over the last several weeks the Browns have gone up against playoff potential teams and really lost the games for themselves. Last week two of the Ravens scores came off of Browns fumbles, the week before they were up 14 on GB going into the fourth quarter, and even letting the hot Chargers only get into the end zone one time, in a game that was still in reach until the final few minutes. So although their record doesn’t show, it does seem that they have been a few critical mistakes (letting the clock tick down to 0 before the half when you are on the one-yard line) away from potentially winning a few games.
The bears are coming off of a loss to Detroit in which Qb. Mithcell Trubisky threw the ball 46 times leading to three interceptions. After coming within a few yards of beating the previous years super bowl runner-ups week 1, some people had high hopes for this Bears team. With a defense that ranks tenth in pass yards allowed, eleventh in rushing yards allowed, and thirteenth in points allowed, the Bears have only been able to muster up four wins. The common denominator in those wins, Jordan Howard. Howard is averaging 129.75 yards in those games with two multiple score efforts. The one area the Browns have shined, stopping the run. They rank seventh in the NFL, allowing 96.1 YPG. Considering that for most of the season they have been playing from behind opposing teams have put up the fifth most rushing attempts against them per game, yet they are leading the league with only 3.3 yards per carry. Joe Schobert and Christian Kirksey have emerged as one of the premier inside linebackers duos, with 127 and 124 tackles respectively. For all the negativity surrounding this team, the aggressive run-stopping front seven is something this organization can build hope off of.
Both teams should come into this game a little more conservative, look for them to hand the ball of hoping to chew out the clock and keep the ball out of their young quarterbacks hand. You have to assume that the Browns are playing for much more, not wanting to be just the second team in NFL history to go 0-16, where there is a good chance that the Bears have already clocked out on this season. I see this game as being a tough grind and coming down to whoever has the ball last. When the Browns step onto the field Sunday it will be exactly 365 days since their last win. I think that the Bears will win in a close fight, but will not be able to lay more than a touchdown, as much as I hate to say this, I’m taking the points!
Browns 17-Bears 20