Steelers vs. Browns: What they're saying in Cleveland after the loss

Nick Camino can’t wait for the Cleveland Browns’ season to be over.

The sports anchor for WKYC-TV 3 in Cleveland lambasted his home team after the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated them 27-14 at Acrisure Stadium Sunday.

“How many more weeks of the season do we have left?” Camino wrote. “We are counting down to the end of this disappointing campaign — another Sunday, another disappointing Browns loss.”

Camino lamented that he “fully expected” the Browns to lose to the Steelers this week.

The Browns have a 3-10 record this season. The loss to the Steelers officially knocked the team out of playoff contention.

It comes after the Browns defeated the Steelers last month at home in a game that looked like it was being played in a snow globe, as snow blanketed the field and temperatures plummeted.

But any optimism Browns fans may have felt after that win has since evaporated. The team fell to the Denver Broncos last week before losing their 21st consecutive regular-season game in Pittsburgh this weekend.

In the Akron Beacon Journal, Browns beat reporter Chris Easterling said the loss showed that “history is really hard for the Browns to shake.”

“Cleveland went into Pittsburgh on Sunday and continued what has now turned into more than two decades of misery in the Steel City,” he said.

The Browns were down 13-7 at halftime after kicker Dustin Hopkins missed a 38-yard field goal with fewer than 30 seconds on the clock before halftime.

He later missed a 43-yard kick in the next quarter.

The Browns turned the ball over three times, as opposed to just once on Pittsburgh’s end. Quarterback Jameis Winston notched two touchdowns, but also tallied two interceptions.

Ryan Cook writing for The Sporting News, blamed Cleveland’s loss on a litany of errors.

“On the heels of throwing two pick-sixes a week earlier against the Broncos, Jameis Winston picked up where he left off throwing two more interceptions — the second proving costly after the Browns recovered a fumble at midfield on the previous drive,” he wrote. “On the ground, Nick Chubb failed to make an impact in his first game in Pittsburgh since last year’s devastating knee injury, while Dustin Hopkins missed two makeable field goals that could have kept the game alive.”

People were critical of the team’s performance on social media.

“Sometimes I wonder if this Jameis Winston Experience is fun for everyone except Browns fans,” Houston radio host and NFL analyst Lance Zierlein wrote on social media.

Sometimes I wonder if this Jameis Winston Experience is fun for everyone except Browns fans.

— Lance Zierlein (@LanceZierlein) December 8, 2024

Former Browns kick returner Josh Cribbs posted a gif illustrating his frustration as he was “Watching Hopkins Struggle.”

Watching Hopkins Struggle????#Browns pic.twitter.com/6tTG0mn2yn

— Josh Cribbs (@JoshCribbs16) December 8, 2024

In a postgame press conference, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski declined to place the blame on any individual player.

“We win and lose as a team,” he told reporters.

The team needs to aim for more touchdowns, he said.

“And if we settle for field goals, we’ve got to make them,” he said.

Stefanski said the team “put ourselves in a really tough position” in Sunday’s game. But, he said, “We’ll learn from it.”