With their star cornerback Joe Haden out of the game with a hip pointer and their superstar receiver Josh Gordon throttled, the Browns surrendered three fourth-quarter touchdowns to the Bears to send their fans home for the season with frozen fingers and cold hearts.
Not even two defensive touchdowns and three takeaways were enough to prevent Jay Cutler — fresh off a high ankle sprain — and the Bears from taking over the game and pulling out the 38-31 come-from-behind win.
“It’s very frustrating,” said Browns safety Tashaun Gipson, who picked off Cutler twice and returned one 44 yards for a touchdown but couldn’t get his hand on a late 45-yard TD pass to Alshon Jeffery. “Whenever you’re able to put up 14 points defensively and bring three turnovers, that’s huge. I felt like for the first three quarters we played lights out, and that’s been the name of the game this season — our fourth quarter.
“We let it slip away from us. I just never guessed we’d lose after having the hot start that we did. If you would have told me that in the middle of the second quarter, I would’ve never believed you.”
The 21-point onslaught in the final 10:59 came on the sensational 45-yard grab by a double-covered Jeffery, a 4-yard catch by Earl Bennett and 40-yard run by Michael Bush. Those plays ran the Browns’ total to 49 points surrendered in the fourth quarter of the last three games. Last Sunday saw two TD passes by Tom Brady in the final 61 seconds; and the week before was the Jaguars’ game-winning TD catch with 40 seconds remaining.
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