Browns emerge from chaos with playoff shot entering Steelers game

CLEVELAND — The controversy-around-every-corner Browns emerged on the other side of the helmet-swinging Myles Garrett maelstrom a more connected team.

They bonded during a week loaded with suspensions, appeals, fines and outside noise by playing an incident-free game Sunday. There was no drama, no ejections, no glittery watches, illegal cleats or visors, no bashing of coach Freddie Kitchens, no season-ending injuries or any major issues against Miami.

How refreshing. Just some good, old-fashioned football at last.

Maybe this talented, overpublicized team is growing up. Maybe it’ll reach those high expectations heaped on them this summer.

Maybe the Browns, who will visit the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday to rekindle a rivalry that’s nuclear hot at the moment, will make the playoffs after all.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” center JC Tretter said Monday. “We are far from where we need to be and where we want to be.”

Under strange circumstances created by Garrett’s attack on Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph last week, the Browns got their third straight win, 41-24 at home against the overmatched Dolphins, a timely opponent for Cleveland to take out its frustrations.

And just like that, the Browns (5-6) have positioned themselves to make a postseason run that a few weeks ago seemed unlikely.

Following an ugly 24-19 loss Nov. 3 at Denver, a setback worsened by safety Jermaine Whitehead’s shocking postgame social media rant that led to his release the following day, the Browns were 2-6 and being ridiculed for a lack of discipline, character and heart.

With a greater attention to detail and renewed focus, they appear to have salvaged their season.

“We kind of had to go into playoff mode a couple of weeks ago,” said Kitchens. “It is just one game at a time once you get to the playoffs. That is the way it should be all year. These guys have just bought into that kind of mantra of 1-0 this week, and that is the only thing we care about.”

One of the main factors in the Browns’ improvement has been quarterback Baker Mayfield’s strong play. After throwing a league-high 12 interceptions in Cleveland’s first seven games, he has just one in the last four with six TD passes.

Mayfield’s decision-making has been better, his passes sharper, and the second-year QB is again playing with that uber-confidence that endears him to teammates and enrages opponents.

Kitchens isn’t anticipating any more setbacks.

“Anytime you go through adversity, you either mature or you wilt,” he said. “I do not think our team is going to wilt.”

Finally, the high-powered offense is clicking.

Sure, it helped to go against the Dolphins, who were missing several starters in the secondary, but Mayfield passed for a season-high 327 yards, 148 to wide receiver Jarvis Landry, who scorched his former team for 10 catches and two TDs.

The Landry/Odell Beckham Jr. tandem combined for 232 yards receiving, running back Nick Chubb ran for 106, and Kareem Hunt, whose return from an eight-game suspension has provided a needed jolt, scored his first TD with Cleveland.