Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.Instant takeaways from Browns 20-17 win over Chicago Bears …1. Resilience personified: It’s not easy to come back from three interceptions, but Joe Flacco did it. Behind a decimated offensive line that was beaten all day long, Flacco made up a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to pull out a desperate, 20-17 win over the Chicago Bears. Flacco hooked up with David Njoku for connections of 31 and 34 yards to set up Dustin Hopkins’ winning field goal of 34 yards with 32 seconds to play. The Browns intercepted Justin Fields' Hail Mary in the end zone on the last play. D'Anthony Bell caught the ball after it caromed off the hands of Darnell Mooney. Wow. Flacco finished with 374 passing yards on a day the Browns’ offensive line was further decimated by an injury to left guard Joel Bitonio. Njoku had his second career 100-yard game (10 catches for 104 yards) and Amari Cooper added 109 yards on four catches. The Browns are 9-5 and hold the fifth seed in the AFC playoffs with three games to play. The Bears, who led most of the day, dropped to 5-9.
2. Back in it: After three interceptions, Flacco wouldn’t be denied. Frustrated all day by Chicago’s pass rush, he drifted right on second down and fired to Cooper crossing the middle of the field. Cooper broke outside and raced down the right sideline for a 51-yard catch-and-run. It tied the score at 17-17 with 3:08 to play.
3. Opportunity squandered: The restless crowd woke up when special teamer Mohamoud Diabata recovered a muffed punt by Trent Taylor with 2:31 to play in the third quarter. But on first down, Flacco threw late for wide open David Njoku at the goal line. Rookie cornerback Tyrique Stevenson swooped in for a diving interception. The defense held the Bears off the scoreboard there when Cameron Mitchell’s shoestring trip up of Justin Fields inches short of a first down turned it back to the Browns. The Browns then moved 52 yards to move into position for a 33-yard field goal by Dustin Hopkins to close the deficit to 17-10. Big play was a Flacco completion of 57 yards to long-forgotten Marquise Goodwin.
4. Holiday giveaway: The Browns’ defense forced a punt in three plays on the first series after halftime. Then, in the blink of an eye, it was 14-7, Bears. Flacco’s pass on first down was knocked out of Cedric Tillman’s hands by linebacker T.J. Edwards and into the hands of linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. Edmunds took it 45 yards to the end zone for a Pick 6. So both of Chicago’s touchdowns at that point came on Flacco interceptions on throws for Tillman. On the first, Tillman broke the wrong way.
5. They all add up: Cairo Santos’ 41-yard field goal with 7:07 left in the third quarter increased the Bears lead to 17-7.
6. Ugly: The first half resembled a fourth preseason game. Pre-game rain made the field wet and there was some wind, and all the injured players played a huge role, but, boy, was it ugly. Joe Flacco was intercepted once (setting up Chicago’s only score) and should have been intercepted two other times, and he lost the ball on a hit, but it bounced safely out of bounds. Martin Emerson and Greg Newsome dropped interceptions. The Browns had a (cheap) defensive pass interference in the end zone and twice were called for 12 players on the field on defense. The defense almost allowed an unbelievable scoring drive at the end and survived a Fields Hail Mary to the end zone when Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah came down with it in the end zone to preserve a 7-7 halftime tie.
David Njoku's TD catch in the second quarter tied the score at 7-7. (Cleveland Browns)
Flacco was out of rhythm until his fifth series. After surviving two near interceptions by the Chicago defense, he bought time moving to his right and threw a perfect touch pass downfield to Amari Cooper who broke behind cornerback Tyrique Stevenson for a 42-yard gain. Things got hairy when Kareem Hunt was stopped for 1 yard on a wildcat run to the Bears’ 19. On fourth-and-2, Stefanski inserted Dorian Thompson-Robinson and the quarterback and Jerome Ford connected to convert the first down (great effort by Ford after the catch). Three plays later, Flacco again bought time rolling to his right and David Njoku high-pointed the ball at the back of the end zone for a 2-yard TD that tied the score.
8. The longest yard: Flacco’s interception – thrown off his back foot while backpedaling from pressure – was returned to the Browns’ 1 by Eddie Jackson. It then took the Bears eight snaps to pierce the goal line. The Browns were called for 12 men on the field twice and Emerson was called for pass interference in the end zone. The Bears false-started attempting a Philadelphia “tush push.” Finally, on third down from the 6, Fields scrambled out of a Myles Garrett sack and fired to tight end Cole Kmet in the left corner for the touchdown.
9. Blah: The first quarter ended with the teams punting seven times (four by the Browns) and each time achieving only one first down. Flacco was 4 of 10 and Fields was 3 of 8. The Bears had 45 total yards offense to the Browns’ 39. And to think, Stefanski chose to take the ball first after the Bears lost the coin toss.
10. No mas!: There’s a few irreplaceables left on the Browns’ injury-ravaged starting units and one was left Joel Bitonio. Sure enough, Bitonio had to leave the game with a back injury with 6:08 to play in the first quarter. That left right guard Wyatt Teller as the only regular starting offensive lineman. The rest of the line was Geron Christian at left tackle, Michael Dunn at left guard, Nick Harris at center and James Hudson at right tackle.
11. Ease him in: In his first game back after missing three with a shoulder injury, cornerback Denzel Ward came in only in nickel alignments on the first three series. After that, he returned to his starting left cornerback spot.
12. Pre-game notes: The injury news wasn’t all bad this week for the Browns. Ward and defensive tackle Jordan Elliott were made active for the game. They were questionable. But the following players were made inactive: Linebacker Anthony Walker (knee), free safety Juan Thornhill (calf), center Ethan Pocic (stinger), defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo (pectoral), linebacker Jordan Kunaszyk (calf), cornerback Kahlef Hailassie and defensive end Sam Kamara.
