Browns-Bears Final Score: Cleveland falls short in preseason finale, 21-20

The Browns lost their preseason finale 21-20 to the Bears. One thing we learned from this preseason is that fans love Joshua Dobbs and Cade York, and that held true this week too. We posted our 53-man roster projection immediately following the game. The full game recap is below.

QB Jacoby Brissett started his first preseason game as a member of the Browns, in preparation of facing the Carolina Panthers in Week 1. He had some starting help with him, but the first couple of drives went three-and-out (and both drives featured misconnections with WR Anthony Schwartz).

The Browns’ defense stopped QB Justin Fields’ first drive with the Bears, generating a lot of pressure against the run and pass. Fields’ second drive was more successful, though, sparked by a run and then a late hit charged to LB Jacob Phillips. Fields finished the drive off with a 22-yard touchdown pass to TE Ryan Griffin.

Brissett’s third drive was about to go three-and-out as well, but Kevin Stefanski opted to go for it on 4th-and-2, and the pass was completed to TE David Njoku to move the chains. Cleveland was starting to build a rhythm, but then WR Demetric Felton made a terrible read on his blocker, cutting right into the blocker instead of the wide open lane in front of him. That helped stall a drive and set up a 58-yard field goal try for K Cade York. York, who had hit from 70 yards in pregame warmups, was wide to the left, keeping it a 7-0 lead for the Bears.

Fields continued driving the Bears in the second quarter, taking advantage of the short field. He connected with WR Dante Pettis for a 12-yard touchdown in the left corner of the end zone, giving Chicago a 14-0 lead.

On Brissett’s fifth drive of the first half, he had his best plays of the game with completions to Njoku and TE Harrison Bryant. As Cleveland was trying to approach scoring range, though, Brissett’s quick slant pass was intercepted when Schwartz was blown up by the defender.

Fields then completed the hat trick in the first half, rolling to his right and finding a wide open TE Cole Kmet for a 24-yard touchdown. That gave Chicago at 21-0 lead with 3:29 remaining in the first half.

Stefanski gave Brissett another shot to get a score. That’s when rookie WR David Bell saw his first action of the night, catching 3 passes for 36 yards to get across midfield heading into the two-minute warning. A couple more drops by Schwartz led to the boobirds, but Cleveland at least had one big highlight when York came on to make amends for earlier, drilling a 57-yard field goal right down the middle to make it a 21-3 game.

QB Trevor Siemian then came on for Chicago, completing several passes to get to midfield with under a minute remaining. DT Shaun Jolly then sacked Siemian, who lost the football as DT Perrion Winfrey came up with the recovery.

QB Joshua Dobbs came on to try to lead a scoring drive. He was able to get the team in range for a 46-yard field goal by York, cutting the Bears’ lead to 21-6 heading into halftime.

The score stayed that way for the whole third quarter, but Dobbs was putting together a lengthy drive leading into the fourth quarter. Although he needed a fourth-down conversion to get in, Dobbs completed the 19-play, 81-yard drive that took up 8:56 of game clock, finishing with a 2-yard touchdown to the outstretched fingertips of TE Miller Forristall to make it a 21-12 game.

Dobbs then put together a Houdini effort of his own to run for and convert the two-point conversion, making it a 21-14 game.

The Bears missed a 48-yard field goal to give new QB Josh Rosen decent starting field position. On a 4th-and-6 from the 15 yard line, though, Rosen’s pass to the corner of the end zone was incomplete, resulting in a turnover on downs with 3:24 to go.

On the Bears’ next play, though, S D’Anthony Bell punched the ball out of the running back’s arms! Cleveland recovered, giving Rosen and the offense the ball at the 10 yard line. Rosen fired a strike to WR Mike Harley down to the 1 yard line. Two quarterback sneaks later, Cleveland drew closer at 21-20. With it being the preseason, the Browns went for two, with Rosen’s pass to WR Javon Wims falling incomplete. The Bears ran out the clock from there.

Quick Hitters

• QB Jacoby Brissett: 13-of-23 for 109 yards, 1 INT.
• QB Joshua Dobbs: 11-of-20 for 89 yards, 1 TD.
• See our 53-man roster projection here.