CLEVELAND -- So close, and yet, so far away.
The Cleveland Browns scored 21 straight points, but it was not enough, as the Green Bay Packers made plays down the stretch of regulation and in overtime and fought their way to a 27-21 victory at FirstEnergy Stadium Sunday.
The Browns (0-13) won the coin toss in overtime and took the ball, but on third-and-two from his own 33-yard line, rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer scrambled to his right, reversed course back left, and threw a pass as he was hit by Packers outside linebacker Clay Matthews III.
Matthews got enough of Kizer’s arm to alter the flight of the pass, and the jump ball was intercepted by Packers safety Josh Jones at the Cleveland 42-yard line.
Then, quarterback Brett Hundley engineered a game-winning six-play drive for the Packers (7-6) and punctuated it with a 25-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Davante Adams with 5:05 left in the overtime period.
With their 13th consecutive loss during the 2017 season, the Browns dropped to 1-28 since the opening game of 2016.
The Browns have not won on a Sunday afternoon since December 13, 2015. The 30 straight Sunday losses are an NFL record, and their 4-46 mark in the last 50 outings is the worst in the league in that four-year span.
The Packers got the opening kickoff and built a sustained drive that Hundley finished off with a 30-yard touchdown pass to rookie running back Jamaal Williams at the 8:50 mark of the first quarter.
On second-and-10 from the Cleveland 30-yard line, Hundley took the shotgun snap and was flushed out of the pocket toward Green Bay’s sideline. Originally looking to throw the ball away, Hundley found Williams well behind the Browns’ secondary for the go-ahead touchdown.
Williams ran a simple go route, and by the time he got to the 15-yard line, he was well behind Cleveland’s defense. Williams hauled in the pass just short of the goal line and walked into the end zone for his second receiving and fifth overall touchdown of the season.
The Packers’ 11-play, 74-yard scoring drive lasted 6:10, and was extended twice by fourth-down conversions, the first of which came on a fake punt, and the second, on a screen pass from Hundley to wide receiver Randall Cobb.
After giving up 21 straight points, when the Packers needed a score early in the fourth quarter, they went back to Williams.
On third-and-goal from the Browns’ one-yard line, Williams took a handoff from Hundley, hustled around right end and fought his way into the end zone for his second touchdown of the day, which cut the Browns’ lead down to one score, 21-14, with 12:50 to play in the fourth quarter.
After being stopped on first and second downs by running between the tackles, Williams bounced the handoff outside for the touchdown.
The Packers’ second scoring drive of the game covered 75 yards in 13 plays and took less than five minutes off of the clock.
Then, after winning a challenge on a dropped pass from Browns tight end David Njoku that forced a punt, the Packers turned a short field into a game-tying touchdown with just 17 seconds remaining in regulation.
On first-and-goal from inside the Cleveland one-yard line, Hundley fired a touchdown pass to wide receiver Davante Adams along the left side of the end zone. Mason Crosby’s extra point knotted the score at 21 all.
One play earlier, it was ruled that Hundley scored a touchdown after being flushed out of the pocket on third-and-two from the Cleveland six-yard line, but a replay review showed he was down short of the goal line before the ball crossed the plane of the end zone.
The Packers’ 25-yard scoring drive was set up by a 65-yard punt return from second-year wide receiver Trevor Davis, who escaped several tackle attempts before getting to the left sideline and sprinting free for the big gain.
