SANTA CLARA, Calif. — It turned out to be a "Monday Night Nightmare" for the Browns.
The San Francisco 49ers? Yeah, I think they're pretty legit. They are definitely 4-0, and they were by wide margins a much better football team (and a much better-coached football team) on this Monday night as they dominate the Browns really from their very first play of the game. An 83-yard touchdown run by Matt Breida, all they way and in, and that started a bad night.
The Browns could never get up off the deck and really right themselves, although it was 14-3 at one point. Antonio Callaway said he had to learn a new position at wide receiver this week, a totally different position than the one he's accustomed to playing. It looked that way: He couldn't get lined up, he hadn't been around for four weeks, he missed most of training camp anyway with a high ankle sprain, and it seems like there just wasn't enough time.
I'm wondering why they force-fed Callaway and put him in the lineup if he really didn't understand what he was doing at the wide receiver position. Anyhow, it was a mess, especially at 14-3 when they threw to him on 3rd and goal from the 7 and the ball deflected off his hands and into the hands of (former Browns defensive back) K'Waun Williams, who returned it all the way to the 50. The Niners then took it in for a touchdown, and the rout was indeed on.
You know what? There's something wrong right now with the Browns, and we keep kind of putting it off and saying, "Well, they're only four games in." But now they're five games in, and they're 2-3, and they've got two huge games coming up: Seattle, then they bye week, then the undefeated Patriots.
There really is something missing. There's chemistry that's wrong, there's timing that's wrong, and it just doesn't seem to be the same football team that we fell in love with at the end of last year. They played so fundamentally well, so together, and right now that's not happening.
So whether it's the quarterback who's not seeing things, whether it's the offensive line (who did not block a soul in this game), or whether it's the defense that has played well but got exposed to the running game of Kyle Shanahan and the 49ers on this night, something's wrong. They're better than being 2-3, with a big game at home Sunday against Seattle.
When will they figure it out, and how is it going to look on Sunday against a team that's playing with a quarterback in Russell Wilson currently playing at a NFL MVP level?
Wow, what a mess after such a great win in Baltimore eight days ago.