The Browns aren't going to let the sting of a tough Sunday in Pittsburgh bother them for long.
That message was evident in the responses from Browns players and coaches following a 38-7 defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Heinz Field. Cleveland suffered its second loss of the season and ended its four-game winning streak after a performance that was a stark contrast from the previous four weeks. The offense totaled a season-low 220 yards, while the defense allowed four touchdowns and struggled to slow down the Steelers' top offensive weapons.
But the Browns know that Sunday's result was far from the standards of how they can play. Their previous win streak is a testament to that, and they plan to get back to what worked as soon as they arrive back in Cleveland.
"You can't let it linger," coach Kevin Stefanski said in a postgame Zoom call with local reporters. "You have to learn from it and move on. We'll watch the tape, learn from it and move on. That's the simple answer. You can't dwell on these things."
Cleveland has proven before it can forget about a loss quickly.
After the Browns dropped their Week 1 matchup against the Ravens, they roared back on a short week in Week 2 to defeat the Bengals and then began one of their longest win streaks in over a decade. They showed that one loss won't cast a dark cloud on their focus for the next week, and that's the approach the Browns are prepared to take again.
It won't be easy to immediately forget about a game that featured a disappointing amount of mistakes.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield was 10-for-18 for 119 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. The Browns were held to just 75 rushing yards, a season low. After committing just two penalties last week, Cleveland was flagged on seven plays for 55 yards.
Those errors and outputs rarely will be enough to win against the Steelers, who scored touchdowns after both of the Browns' interceptions and used their tantalizing defense to shun big plays from nearly every playmaker on the Browns' offense.
"We just got outplayed today," Mayfield said. "That's what happens when you don't execute. Great teams capitalize on your mistakes, and that's what they did. That was the difference."
Mayfield, who suffered a chest injury last week against the Colts and was limited throughout practice as he worked through the soreness, didn't receive any breaks against the Steelers defense. He was sacked four times and hopped back on his feet despite taking few big hits in the pocket.
He's never been one for excuses, though. He acknowledged how he should've made different reads on his interceptions, and he didn't pin any of his performance on any injury.
"It didn't," Mayfield said when asked how the ribs soreness might've affected him. "I've got to take care of the ball."
The Browns rushing game couldn't do much to take weight off the passing game, either. The Steelers boasted the best rushing defense in the league before Sunday, and they flexed their muscles even more against a rushing attack that was without RB Nick Chubb for the second consecutive week.
RB Kareem Hunt was limited to 40 yards on 13 carries while Dontrell Hilliard accumulated 29 yards on four attempts. Most of the Browns' runs were met with a stiff wall of defenders at the line of scrimmage, and that made it tough for Cleveland to find any support from one of its most reliable sources of offense thus far.
"From play to play, there was a guy who got beat," offensive lineman Joel Bitonio said. "Someone got beat or someone missed their gap, and that's how you lose to a fundamentally sound team like Pittsburgh. We didn't play well enough today."
The Browns know they have what it takes to bounce back next Sunday. After their Week 1 loss to the Ravens, they developed a game plan that worked in taking down the Bengals in Week 2 after a short four-day week. The sense of urgency around the Browns doesn't feel any different right now.
Now, they'll prepare to face the Bengals for the second time following a loss, and they'll have a full week of preparation and rest. Those six days will be needed for the Browns to analyze what went wrong Sunday and give players time to heal after a tough loss.
They're not letting Sunday become anything bigger than a tally in the loss column. It's time to move on, and the Browns are ready to do just that.
"You don't want to let it landslide," Mayfield said. "We'll learn from it and move forward."
