The Cleveland Browns nearly got their Christmas miracle.
They were 8 point underdogs but were within 2 points and driving the ball down the field at the end of the game.
Then, this week’s edition of the Browns heartbreaking loss occurred.
Here is how the NFL world reacted to the Browns’ loss to the Packers by the score of 24-22.
1. Baker Mayfield’s Interceptions
A big storyline of this game was Baker Mayfield’s four interceptions.
Those passes were bad decisions that changed the course of the game.
Fans were on the edge of their seats watching one after another.
Me watching Baker throwing INT after INT #Browns pic.twitter.com/Q1fOlqlgTG
— Dr. Nicole (@DrNicole1908) December 25, 2021
Unfortunately, Mayfield has not been good in the late stages of games at all this season.
The stats don’t lie.
Baker this year in the last 4 minutes of one-score games: 11/26, 74 yards, 0 TDs, 2 INTs. Passer rating of 17.8.
Stats from @Sportradar pic.twitter.com/NvFvuGWqK7
— Jason Lloyd (@ByJasonLloyd) December 26, 2021
2. Bad Officiating
One of the prevailing themes in a very inconsistent NFL season is bad officiating.
Teams cannot rely on the officials to make the correct call or any call.
They have to figure out ways to win regardless.
Wyatt Teller’s offsides call was blatantly wrong, but sadly it is what it is.
That did not stop his mother from getting on Twitter to vent.
She even asked for an apology from the officials.
While she is not wrong, we have seen far too much of family members being too outspoken on social media.
My son deserves an APOLOGY from the refs in tonight's game…called for offsides and clearly didn't move. In fact, it was the GBDef who moved. Frankly if that was the only poor call I might let it go but how many DPI calls did we have especially at the end.
— Cheryl Teller (@teller_cheryl) December 26, 2021
Ya know what’s worse than a kicker missing extra points and field goals? Referees missing blatant and obvious holding/PI and illegal contact downfield penalties. It’s a sham #Browns
— CleWest (@erjmanlasvegas) December 26, 2021
All I want for Christmas is for the referees to stop missing blatant penalties #browns
— Kelsey (@kelseydyoung) December 25, 2021
Zebras. Ridiculous. What a bad look for the league. #Browns
— Tony Rizzo (@TheRealTRizzo) December 26, 2021
3. Coach Stefanski
In addition to the officials and Mayfield, Coach Stefanski got the rest of the wrath/blame for the loss.
His play calling seemed to irritate many.
That is on #Stefanski and #Baker. Absolutley horrible play calling @Browns Stay with whats working not what isn’t. Its that simple. So much potential wasted. So much defensive talent wasted. Stop the analytics and develop your understanding of the game.
— Christopher Blake Carver (@cbcarver5) December 26, 2021
Though some disagreed that Stefanski’s play calling was a problem.
I’m continuing to hear criticism about Kevin Stefanski’s playcalling on the final drive. It was a freaking 2-minute drill. You have to put the ball in the air at least a few times. And they ran it 3 times. 2 of the 3 runs only got 4 yards.
Stefanski was awesome today. #Browns
— Ed Greenberger (@EdGreenberger) December 26, 2021
Conclusion
Browns Twitter was not as angry as expected.
The Christmas holiday could be part of the reason.
Or perhaps the fans are just mentally exhausted from these close games.
They are now expecting the last minute letdown so the hurt is a little bit less since they saw it twice in the past 6 days.
NEXT: Studs And Duds From The Browns' Loss To The Packers
The no calls against the Packers Secondary are unexcusable and the officials should be banned from doing another game. The inconsistency will only stop when there are consequences for bad officiating.
I understand totally that there where some terrible calls on the officials! But let’s not lose sight on the fact that they have a offense problem and it starts with the quarterback, he will never take this team to the super bowl! Poor browns fans we deserve better!!
The Cleveland Browns were in a position to win, but the egregious refs took that away by making bad calls all day!, 5 I counted could be more!! If you made that many mistakes at your job week in and out wouldn’t you be fired?? Something isn’t right here and that was a prime time game with every camera angle possible!! Troy Aikman even said on Browns last drive DpJ was interfered and held….
Excuse me, but I saw several no calls that should’ve been against the Browns that game as well. And a couple of equally bad calls that went against the Packers. The difference was, the Packers got back up and did what needed to be done. The Browns simply failed.
Why not let Chubb and Johnson win the game? Why let Mayfield lose it? Don’t be in the position that you blame the refs and use them as a scapegoat for a QB attention seeker.
The Vikings and the Browns have the same two problems. First is the offensive coordinator trusts their qbs more than their hard working running backs. Secondly ,the qbs are not good enough to win a tough game. So stop counting on them.
We have seen this same crap three weeks I a row from Stephanski. Chubb. Ripping thru their defense for 8-10 yards at a crack. Get inside the 35 and he doesn’t touch the ball. Funny how O/U was at 47. Game ends 22-24.. they couldn’t let the Browns score any more.
Fraank said absolutely right!!!!!!!!!
Is browns receiver not Hills on that last interception he would’ve caught the ball and Cleveland would’ve won the game possibly with that last second field goal!!!!! It seems the NFL wants the Packers in the Super Bowl and they’re squeaky wins lately attest to that
It was really bad. They could have called that pi a full minute after…hard headed dumb dumbs. Did all the starter refs get covid 2? What the hell is going on.
Unbelievable are absolutely righ referred should be held accountable for bad calls! I couldn’t believe all the missed penalty calls that were don.e by the Green Bay Packers. Even though the CLE Browns made game mistakes they not only had to fight the Packers but the refs too!! It was as if the game was rigged in favor of the Green Bay Packers winning in my opinion!
Tupical woulda coulda shoulda reaction to mayfield’s shitty play at crucial spots in every game.
Throwing 4 picks (that could have been 6 if GB DB’s didn’t drop 2 of them) is crazy bad.
Very simple analytics: He is not capable of winning a game when his team is down late in a game..
Go look it up.
Stoptryingtomaketheqbthehero
Two of the ints were from blatant holding/PI calls. No matter what happened earlier, Mayfield or whatever, the refs took the game out if the players hands on the final int with no call. Why not let the Browns blow it on another missed kick?
Ok, some calls that should have gone our way didn’t. That’s life! Control what you can, and press on when there is nothing in your power to change the other stuff. Stop trying to divert, or reach for an excuse. It wasn’t a few penalties, that didn’t go our way. It was the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, that didn’t go our way.
People try so hard not to hold this man accountable. Make any and every excuse for is lousy performance, and point the finger at anyone on the team, that has something to say about his poor play.
We can all blame the refs for the browns issues but the problem is number 6 and when the browns figure that out is when things will change!! If they sign him long term it would be a major mistake! Browns fans deserve better
Unbelievable Baker doesn’t have the football IQ for game winning drives i quess now will hear the same song we got to be better in those situations from coach Stafanski, if you know better you will do better and have different results im going to say what alot of your players would like to say ,the coach and the QB is not working for us Cleveland fans have been waiting and suffered for years for the same soup warmed over.
You can tell from the comments the people who didn’t watch the game and just looked at stats at the end. Zebras gave Green Bay FOUR non-calls and two of the non calls resulted in interceptions. Until refs are held accountable with fines and having to miss games and go to re-education seminars this isn’t going to get batter. But we know that won’t happen because the NFL has a hand in who they want to win and by how much.
There were a couple of calls in particular that wernt made in my opinion that wernt made that really stood out the face masking where you could clearly see the head turn on the browns offensive guy and passing interference that didn’t get called against the Green Bay packers I blame the reffs they have not catching alot of calls like that in every game across the nfl all season and I love watching every football game there is .
Mayfield does not have it. He is average to below average. He’s holding back your browns. Never settile. You will not see a superbowl with him there. Gotta find someone who can go toe to toe with Mahomes in the afc. The force is not with this mayfield person.