This is a sight we won't see again this season. Nick Chubb's broken left foot will end his season and set up another offseason of rehab for the running back. (Cleveland Browns)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is an analyst of the Cleveland Browns for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
There are few reasonable goals left for the Browns in this disastrous season. One of them was get to the finish line with Nick Chubb healthy so that he could stay rehab-free in the offseason and let his rebuilt left knee rejuvenate.
Well, scratch that one from the list.
Chubb broke his left foot in the third quarter of a very lost cause, eventually a 21-7 defeat to the Kansas City Chiefs, who didn’t need luck this day to rise to 13-1.
The Browns were losing 21-0 and could have played till the cows came home and were not going to threaten the two-time defending league champions, not the way Jameis Winston and others were turning the ball over or lining up wrong. They wound up with six turnovers – three interceptions by Winston -- and a few more pre-snap penalties to pad their league lead in that ignominious category.
With 11:46 to play in the third quarter, Chubb ran for 8 yards, got off the ground and returned to the huddle with no sign of an injury. On the next play, Winston faked a handoff to Chubb in the shotgun formation, and Chubb’s left foot gave way. He limped off the field in obvious pain.
It’s possible the injury could have occurred on Chubb’s previous carry at the 12:42 mark when he had the ball punched out by linebacker Leo Chenal and was buried under a sea of bodies.
“I believe he got stepped on,” said coach Kevin Stefanski.
In any case, Chubb’s season is over. It was too early to tell the extent of the next rehabilitation awaiting Chubb.
“He’ll come back and he’ll put it behind him and he’ll be the teammate everybody knows he is,” said guard Joel Bitonio.
Bitonio and others don’t believe it’s the last we’ve seen of Chubb. This week, Chubb said he had no intention of “shutting it down” and wanted to play his whole career with the Browns. But his contract is up and the Browns have a million decisions to make to compensate for Deshaun Watson’s humungous contract.
“If Nick Chubb wants to be a Brown, he’ll be a Brown next year,” Bitonio said. “That’s all I got for that. He’s earned that, and they’ll figure something out.”
Another cornerstone player, Myles Garrett, had to leave in the second quarter when he was poked in the eye accidentally while engaged in a block with left tackle Joe Thuney.
Garrett flung off his helmet and lay on the ground in pain for several moments. But he returned to play before the first half ended and spent the rest of the game chasing Patrick Mahomes while seeing double vision.
“[It’s] minor at the moment, just in pain,” Garrett said of his left eye, which was swollen after the game.
Garrett never caught Mahomes for a sack, leaving Garrett a half-sack shy of 100 in his career, but Mahomes had to work hard for the Chiefs’ 21 points and left the game in the fourth quarter with an injury to an ankle. The Chiefs said it was his right ankle, but a trainer taped his left ankle on the bench.
Both Mahomes and coach Andy Reid said it was too early to say if Mahomes would have to miss the next game Saturday against Houston. The Chiefs have a short turnaround after that and play on Christmas Day, which is a Wednesday.
Which brings us to the Browns’ ever-problematical quarterback situation.
Winston was yanked for performance for the first time in his seven starts. He tossed three interceptions. One was the fault of Chubb, who juggled a pass into linebacker Nick Bolton’s arms, but the other two were bad throws in the end zone intended for Elijah Moore and Michael Woods.
Winston has nine interceptions in his last four games and now has 12 in seven games and 296 attempts. That 4.4 interception percentage is a full point higher than his career average of 3.4, which was the highest among all active quarterbacks.
Dorian Thompson-Robinson came in and in two possessions added a fourth Cleveland interception. The Browns also had lost fumbles by Chubb and punt returner James Proche as they continued to undermine the efforts of their defense.
The Browns are 3-11. The collaborative “process” by which they make decision might determine it’s time to see what Thompson-Robinson can do when properly prepared from the beginning of the work week and for multiple games.
“That would be nice,” DTR said. “Any opportunity I can get I look forward to.”
Stefanski would not say if he’s ready to play DTR or even QB3 Bailey Zappe over the final three games.
“I’m not going to get into any decisions right now,” the coach said. “This is not about one person. I will make that very clear. Jameis does a great job preparing for these games. He’s fighting his tail off and I appreciate that from him. But we’ll make that decision later.”
Winston was unfazed by the inevitability of another career benching.
“[Stefanski] has been coaching for a long time and whatever he decides, I trust it,” he said. “I know what I’m capable of doing.
“This is something that’s been part of my career. Man, like especially in 2019, sometimes I view it as a spiritual battle. I’m going to continue to fight and continue to get better.”
Two players on offense had good games. Jerry Jeudy had 108 yards on 11 receptions to surpass 1,000 yards on the season for the first time in his career. And Jerome Ford had 84 yards rushing on 7 attempts, including a 62-yard TD run. Ford also had a 45-yard kickoff return for a 29.3-yard average on the day.
But the sight of Chubb exiting the locker room on crutches reminded everyone what a terrible season this has been for the Browns. With three more games to go, we can only hope that it doesn’t get worse.