The Cleveland Browns came away with an ugly 14-7 win on the road over the Minnesota Vikings to improve to 3-1 on the season.
Anyone looking for an exciting game that was going to light up the scoreboard was highly disappointed with the final result in Minnesota. The Cleveland Browns and Minnesota Vikings combined for just 21 points, 15 of which were on touchdown drives.
A development that was hardly surprising was the lack of efficiency in the passing game for both teams. Baker Mayfield was 15 of 33 for 155 yards while being sacked three times while Kirk Cousins completed 20 of 38 attempts for 203 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. While the Vikings passing attack was better than the Browns, neither was particularly good on the day. The big difference between Minnesota and Cleveland passing wise was that Justin Jefferson (6-84-1) and Adam Thielen (3-46) led the Vikings passing attack while the leading receiver for the Browns was Rashard Higgins with four catches for 63 yards. Any game that Higgins ends up being the leading receiver in signals larger problems that need to be addressed sooner rather than later.
After his triumphant return last week, Odell Beckham Jr. recorded just two receptions for 27 yards on seven targets. This was certainly a game that the Browns missed Jarvis Landry, who is able to be a consistent source of production underneath that allows Beckham to produce down the field. Landry is expected to miss at least one more game before returning from injured reserve.
Luckily the Browns were able to make something happen in the running game since their passing attack was futile. Nick Chubb carried the ball 21 times for 100 yards and Kareem Hunt added 69 yards on 14 carries while also adding a touchdown on the ground.
At the end of the day the Browns won and that is the ultimate goal. One thing to keep an eye on is that the team has seemingly played worse in each game this season. At some point that is going to come back to burn them and that could happen as soon as this week against the Chargers. Doing just enough to win is fine when spaced out over a season, but it signals a much larger problem when that is how all of their wins have come during the first month of the season.
