GLENDALE, Ariz. — It looks as though the season has come to an end, two weeks before the season comes to an end.
The Browns needed to win out. They needed to win the final three just to be in contention for AFC playoff spot. That went by the board Sunday.
The young Arizona Cardinals, with the thrilling young quarterback from Oklahoma in Kyler Murray, beat our quarterback from Oklahoma in Baker Mayfield. It was all Cardinals, and it really was from the outset.
The Browns got into a big hole early, down 14-0, and this really all goes back to the final eight seconds of that Thursday night win over the Pittsburgh Steelers when Myles Garrett ended up getting into that helmet-hitting brawl. As he left, so did the pass rush leave. Add in Olivier Vernon's injury, put in a very weak pass rush to no pass rush at all against this quarterback and this air raid offense, and it is unstoppable.
Any time the Browns did get close, Arizona answered with a touchdown drive of its own.
For the Browns, there are bad signs: A bad sign for the coach, a bad sign for the star players. Mayfield is not improving at a good clip. The wide receivers, Landry and Beckham, neither one of them is happy, and more often than not they come off the field and scream at the head coach. The fact that they're able to do that and get away with it is a bad sign for Freddie Kitchens.
With six wins coming into this game, it was figured that he needed at least two out of the last three to really be on safe ground to hold on to his job after only one year. Now, after losing this game, and getting the Baltimore Ravens next Sunday in Cleveland—a game Baltimore must have to try and hang on to the AFC's No. 1 seed—that's going to be a tough fix. They don't have a lot of time, and they don't have a lot of happy players.
The math looks bad for the head coach right now, and the sideline discipline is not of a team that is really functioning together.
The Browns are 6-8. So much promise at the beginning of the season; so unfulfilled as we come down the wire to the last home game Sunday Baltimore, followed by a trip to Cincinnati.
It was all Cardinals, all day long.