Browns vs. 49ers Final Score: Kyle Shanahan owns Cleveland in 31-3 ass-kicking

At least special teams did good (shrugs). A week after the Browns were on cloud nine to take the AFC North lead, they were smoked on Monday Night Football by the San Francisco 49ers 31-3. Credit to Kyle Shanahan and his team for a well-executed gameplan and dominating the trenches on both sides, as Cleveland falls to 2-3 on the season.

The Browns had an exciting start to the first quarter with some trickery, as WR Odell Beckham threw a pass to WR Jarvis Landry for a gain of 20 yards. The drive ended after a third-down catch by TE Ricky Seals-Jones was overturned for his foot being out of bounds. After the punt, on the 49ers first offensive play of the game, RB Matt Breida went 83 yards untouched for a touchdown, blowing right by FS Damarious Randall as the last line of defense.

On Cleveland’s first play of their next drive, Mayfield was intercepted by CB Richard Sherman.

Cleveland’s defense was fortunate that the 49ers dropped two passes to force a three-and-out and a punt. With Cleveland pinned back, Mayfield overthrew an open Beckham on second down, and then was sacked back to his 6 yard line on third down. Fortunately, P Jamie Gillan blasted a 68 yard, unreturned punt to dig Cleveland out of danger zone. Unfortunately, it didn’t matter. The 49ers marched down the field, and on 3rd-and-goal from the 5 yard line, Breida beat LB Mack Wilson on an arrow route out of the backfield for a touchdown. That gave the 49ers a 14-0 lead with 6:26 to go in the first quarter.

Things didn’t get better on Cleveland’s next drive. On a 3rd-and-3 play, Mayfield felt pressure, tried to scramble, and ended up having the ball poked out for a fumble, with DE Nick Bosa recovering.

Cleveland’s defense held the 49ers to a 47-yard field goal attempt by K Robbie Gould, but he missed it barely to the right — one of the few things to go Cleveland’s way in the quarter.

The Browns were able to move the ball heading into the second quarter and strung together a good drive to get in a goal-to-go situation. But Chubb was hit for a 5-yard loss on the first play, and Mayfield’s next two passes fell incomplete. K Austin Seibert kicked a 30-yard field goal to make it a 14-3 game with 11:22 to go in the first half. On the 49ers’ next drive, DE Myles Garrett came up with a big third down sack to force a punt.

Cleveland was rolling on their next offensive drive with a creative inside handoff to Chubb for 37 yards, followed by a screen pass to get into another goal-to-go situation. On 3rd-and-goal, Mayfield fired a pass to WR Antonio Callaway, who had the ball go off his hands and deflect into the air for an interception, which the 49ers returned all the way to midfield. It’s a huge play, as it should’ve been a 14-10 game, but instead remained 14-3 with the 49ers having great field position.

The 49ers capitalized, capping their next drive off with a 19-yard touchdown run by RB Tevin Coleman to put San Francisco up 21-3 with just under two minutes to go in the first half. Cleveland went three-and-out on their next drive, and then Gillan’s 58-yard punt was returned 32 yards, giving San Francisco the ball in deep scoring range. However, they missed a 52-yard field goal, keeping it an 18-point game.

The 49ers got the ball to begin the second half and marched right down the field like clockwork. QB Jimmy Garoppolo connected with TE Greg Little for a 22-yard touchdown to cap off a 9-play, 90-yard drive to make it a 28-3 game.

Cleveland couldn’t do much and quickly punted the ball back to San Francisco. The 49ers put together a drive that took up almost the rest of the quarter, just overpowering a lifeless Cleveland defense. The 49ers were settling for a short field goal near the end of the third quarter, but the Browns blocked the field goal and returned it to near midfield. It didn’t matter much; the Browns went three-and-out and just punted right back to live the nightmare over again.

The fourth quarter was more terrible play from Cleveland. They even had Beckham go in to return a punt for some reason, down 25 points, mid-way through the quarter. The whole time during the return, it one-handed the football and was running backwards, so of course he fumbled it. Gould hit a 44-yard field goal to make it a 31-3 game. QB Garrett Gilbert finished out a series for the Browns.

Cleveland drops to 2-3 on the season, and have very tough games coming up against Seattle and New England before the bye. Somehow, the Browns need to get their act together again to split those games; 3-4 heading into the bye, with a soft schedule in the back half of the season, puts them in good shape for the AFC North.

Quick Hitters

• QB Baker Mayfield: 8-of-22 for 100 yards, 2 INT. 1 fumble lost.
• RB Nick Chubb: 16 carries, 87 yards. 1 catch, 12 yards.
• WR Odell Beckham: 1-of-1 for 20 yards. 2 rushes, 15 yards. 2 catches, 27 yards (6 targets). 1 fumble lost.
• DE Myles Garrett: 1 sack
• The Browns were out-gained 447 yards to 180 yards, and a nearly 2:1 time of possession.