In a swirling wind in excess of 20 miles per hour Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Bengals saw their playoff hopes blown into the critical stage when the winless Browns exploded for a 27-3 run in the first 22 minutes of the second half that gave them a 34-24 victory.
As the skies opened with a downpour, it seemed even the heavens were about to acknowledge the end of the Browns 11-game losing streak and 12 in the AFC North when Browns cornerback Sheldon Brown sat on slot receiver Andrew Hawkins’s slant route and picked it off for a 19-yard touchdown return for Cleveland’s second of quarterback Andy Dalton’s three picks that gave Cleveland a 34-17 lead with 7:50 left in the game.
The Bengals cut it to 34-24 when Dalton hit wide receiver A.J. Green for a 57-yard touchdown as Dalton hit him running past cornerback Joe Haden with 5:21 left in the game for the first multi-TD game of Green’s career.
But it was too little too late to stave off the nightmare scenario as the Bengals fell to 3-3, 1-2 in the AFC North.
The coup de grace came when Dalton had tight end Jermaine Gresham open in the end zone in the red zone with 2:39 left in the game, but with the defensive line able to tee off, Emmanuel Stephens rode off left tackle Andrew Whitworth, hit Dalton from the blind side and he lost the fumble, one of four Cincinnati’s turnovers that made the Bengals minus in turnovers for the fourth time this season.
With backup running back Montario Hardesty doing damage (56 yards on his first 15 carries of the season) in place of injured rookie Trent Richardson (rib), he gouged the Bengals up the middle and that set up a 23-yard throw to tight end Jordan Cameron in which rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden had all day to throw. That set up up Weeden’s three-yard touchdown throw to wide-open tight end Benjamin Watson to make it 27-17 with eight minutes left as Weeden rung up a 92.7 passer rating on a 231-yard day he had two touchdowns and one interception while his protection gave the NFL sack leaders just two.
The Bengals couldn’t take advantage of heading with the wind in the third quarter and instead got blown away with a 13-0 run capped by Hardesty’s one-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter that gave the Browns a 20-14 lead.
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