CHICAGO, Ill. — Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky did a snow angel in the end zone after he scored on a 4-yard run to the produce the final margin in a 20-3 victory over his hometown Browns, the ones that passed on him at No. 1 in the draft.
“To play in the snow on Christmas Eve against your hometown team is kind of a dream come true,” said Trubisky, the Mentor, Ohio native.
It was A Wonderful Life for Trubisky and the now 5-10 Bears, but not so much for the Browns, who fell to 0-15 and clinched the No. 1 overall pick in the draft for the second year in a row.
DeShone Kizer threw two more picks for a league-high total of 21, Rashard Higgins fumbled into the end zone, and Myles Garrett’s pick-six was wiped out by a Carl Nassib offsides penalty in the loss at Soldier Field.
Using his arms and legs to play arguably his best game of the season, Trubisky said bah-humbug to the team he always wanted to play for and prevented the Browns from another Christmas Eve miracle like they had last year when they beat the Chargers 20-17 to improve to 1-14 on the way to a 1-15 finish.
Clinching the No. 1 pick means they’ll almost certainly draft a quarterback such as UCLA’s Josh Rosen, providing he doesn’t go back to school just to avoid coming to Cleveland.
But Browns coach Hue Jackson, if he survives this disaster of a season, will hire an offensive coordinator, which could be attractive to the college prospects coming out.
The Bears, who made a clean sweep of the AFC North this season, backed up the guarantee of defensive lineman Akiem Hicks, who vowed that “we won’t be the team” to lose to the Browns.
The loss, after the Browns trailed only 6-3 at the half, virtually ensures that they’ll become only the second team in NFL history along with the 2008 Lions to go 0-16. They close out the season on New Year’s Eve in Pittsburgh.
It also means that Jackson will have to make good on his promise to jump into Lake Erie if the Browns went 1-15 again.
The Browns lost the turnover battle yet again thanks to two picks by Kizer and a fumble into the end zone by receiver Rashard Higgins.
While Trubisky, the former Mr. Football in Ohio, cemented his status as the Bears’ quarterback of the future with a solid game, Kizer failed in his bid to prove to the Browns that he can be theirs.
Trubisky completed 14-of-23 attempts for 193 yards, with no passing TDs and no interceptions for a 87.8 rating. He tied Jordan Howard (2 TDs) with 44 yards rushing and rushed for a 4-yard TD. That produced the final margin with 3:27 left in the third to put the game out of reach for the hapless Browns.
Kizer completed 18-of-36 attempts for 182 with no TDs and 2 picks for a 41.7 rating.
Browns receiver Josh Gordon caught 2-of-8 targets for 19 yards, and Corey Coleman 1-of-6 targets for 3 yards.
The Turning Point
The Browns somehow trailed only 6-3 at the half and then almost went ahead on the first play of the second half when No. 1 overall pick Myles Garrett, whom the Browns picked ahead of Trubisky, intercepted Trubisky and returned the ball 37 yards for an apparent TD.
But the interception — Garrett’s first of the season — was wiped out by Carl Nassib’s 5-yard penalty for lining up offsides. Buoyed, Trubisky threw a short screen to running back Benny Cunningham, who turned it into a 40-yard gain to the Browns’ 16. Jordan Howard ran in on the next play to put the Bears up 13-3.
So instead of the Browns going up 10-6, they were down by 10.
“That part is inexcusable,” Jackson said about Nassib lining up offside. “Carl is apologizing in the locker room. It’s just not where we need to be. We can get lined up correctly. Again, that was a huge opportunity to take a lead and get a lead and get some momentum. And then you see the other team make a play. . .”
Nassib earlier had been flagged 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. Jackson was asked after the game if he would have benched Nassib if the Browns weren’t without injured Emmanuel Ogbah at defensive end.
“We took him out of the game,” Jackson said. “I know Carl Nassib, and Carl Nassib is not trying to line up offside. . . This is his second year into it. He’s got to do those things better. Why does it happen at that inopportune time?
“We are not winning, and these are the things that do happen,” Jackson said. “They just do. We will get better.”
Trubisky tacked on the 4-yard TD run on the next drive, scrambling up the middle to put the game away. He had completed another 22-yarder vs. a third-down blitz on that drive, and the Bears also converted a 4th and 1.
Jackson said he was impressed by Garrett’s athleticism on the nullified interception.
“Unbelievable,” he said. “The catch, the run, he looked fast. Everybody was celebrating, but everyone knew we had a penalty coming. That was a hell of a play by Myles. I thought he rushed the QB hard, he did a lot of good things.”
Higgins’ fumble
The Browns came close to scoring at the end of the third quarter thanks to catches of 29 and 15 by running back Duke Johnson, but Higgins fumbled into the end zone after a 17-yard catch and run with 19 seconds left in the third quarter.
Kizer and Gordon had no chemistry
Kizer and Gordon were completely off the entire game and almost every target was a potential interception. He caught only 1 of 5 first-half targets for 8 yards, and two overall for 19.
One went off Gordon’s hands and he dropped another.
Unfortunately for the Browns, one of the miscues resulted in a costly pick, an overthrow to Gordon in the end zone with two minutes left in the half that was intercepted by cornerback Kyle Fuller. The INT, Kizer’s league-leading 20th of the season, spoiled a promising 12-play drive on which the Browns converted two third downs.
The miscues between the two started on the first drive, when Kizer threw low and away to Gordon on third down, and he didn’t lay out to catch it.
On the next drive, cornerback Prince Amukamara caught a deep ball intended for Gordon, but fortunately for Kizer, he was out of bounds. Next drive, Fuller — who had tight coverage the entire first half — broke up a pass to Gordon. And then the next drive came Fuller’s fateful pick in the end zone.
Fortunately for Kizer, his defense bailed him out, sacking Trubisky on third down for the third time in the game to prevent them from cashing in.
After the game, Jackson was asked about whether Gordon and Kizer were on the same page.
“I don’t want to get into all that,” he said. “It’s just something we have to get corrected.
“I know (Gordon) was under the weather. . . I have the same (bug) he has, but he was out there giving it everything he has, but I know he was not feeling as well at the start of the game for sure.”
Jackson was asked if he considered benching Kizer at any point.
“I did not,” he said. “I’m going to let him play through it. As long as he’s staying and his mind and body is right, I’m going to let him play through it.
“DeShone has got to keep stepping to the play. He’s got to go back, get ready for Pittsburgh.”
Browns keep it close at the half
Despite a horrible first half offensively, the Browns trailed only 6-3 at the half. The first part of that was the defense holding after Kizer’s pick, and the second was a 48-yard field goal by Zane Gonzalez with one second left in the half. The kick was set up by a 35-yard pass over the middle to a wide-open Ricardo Louis to the Bears’ 30.
Browns third-down sacks
The Browns sacked Trubisky three times in the first half on third down, including once by Justin Currie, once by Myles Garrett and once by Jamar Taylor and Joe Schobert combined. Heading in, Trubisky had been sacked third-most in the NFL on third down at 14 times.
Bears strike first
Bears running back Jordan Howard opened the scoring with a 2-yard run on the Bears’ second drive. The 57-yard march began with a 28-yard punt return on which the Browns’ Ricardo Louis missed the tackle. He also whiffed on that crucial 65-yard punt return in the fourth quarter of the 27-21 overtime loss to the Packers.
On the first play from scrimmage, Trubisky hit tight end Dion Sims with a 24-yard pass and then recovered a fumbled handoff. Trubisky then ran on back-to-back plays for 19 yards on the slippery track, and Nassib helped the Bears cause with an unsportsmanlike conduct call to the Bears’ 9. But Nassib atoned for the penalty by blocking the extra point.
Jamar Taylor active
Cornerback Taylor was active despite his foot injury, but Briean Boddy-Calhoun was sidelined for the third straight week with his knee injury.
Next
Browns play in Pittsburgh on New Year’s Eve at 1 p.m.
