The Cleveland Browns entered the 2025 NFL season knowing that there would be more bad days than good when it comes to the offense.
Despite whatever revisionist history people may currently be pushing, an offense dominated by rookies at key positions, most importantly a pair of them at quarterback, meant that the evaluation process, along with the season as a whole, was going to be rocky.
But there is struggling (it’s the NFL, it is not supposed to be easy), there is bad (like only scoring more than
17 points in a game four times), and then there is what took place on Sunday in the 31-3 loss to the Chicago Bears, which was historically awful.
By now, everyone has seen the raw numbers:
- Only 21 rushing yards from No. 1 back Quinshon Judkins
- Only 88 receiving yards from anyone not named Isaiah Bond
- Only 9 first downs
- 10 of the 12 offensive drives finished with either a punt or an interception
- Just 4-of-14 on third down.
That was all certainly bad, but the advanced numbers are what make the day’s performance historically bad.
According to Aaron Schatz at FTN Fantasy, the Browns, led by an offense that through three quarters had only an 8 percent success rate, finished the game as the 11th-worst single game by DVOA since 1978 with a combined total of minus-130.3 percent. The offense carried the water on this one, however, at minus-109.5 percent.
There was plenty of blame to go around on Sunday, but this is the NFL, and everything on offense starts and ends with the quarterback. And in Cleveland, when it comes to rookie quarterbacks, things are not going so well.
While everyone was ready and willing to move on from Dillon Gabriel after his first offensive series, only a slight exaggeration, everyone is equally ready to give Shedeur Sanders a pass, especially coming off a big day against the one-win (at the time) Tennessee Titans.
But it is one thing to look good against the Titans and Las Vegas Raiders, another to look good against a team like the Bears, who are in a battle for a playoff spot.
The excuses (wide receivers are bad, the offensive line is bad, the head coach hates him) flow freely, but the reality is that the quarterback play, which was bad with Gabriel, has not improved after the switch to Sanders.
How bad has it been? Steven Ruiz at The Ringer took a look at the numbers from TruMedia, and Gabriel is sitting at a total EPA of minus-41.4 while Sanders has clocked in at minus-41.9. Those numbers are in line with the rookie seasons of Dorian Thompson-Robinson (minus-40.7), Luke McCown (minus-38.6), and Charlie Frye (minus-27.8).
Thankfully, they have not reached DeShone Kizer levels (minus-93.8), which seems hard to believe even having witnessed it, so at least there is some small comfort to be found.
Knowing the season was going to be a rough one doesn’t make it any easier to take as a fan, of course. But the Browns now have four full games of data with Sanders as the starter, and while there have been moments of excitement, it has not been good. And it is likely going to get worse the next two weeks with the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers coming to town.
It is also another reminder that the goal should always be to get high-level play from your quarterback, not just play that is better than the other guy. (Which, inconveniently, is not even the case with Sanders and Gabriel.)
There are only three games left in what has been another lost season of football in Cleveland. That is three more opportunities for Sanders to show he deserves to be in the discussion as the starter in 2026.
But given what everyone has seen through the last four games, even if they don’t want to admit it, it seems just as likely as always that the Browns will be back in the quarterback market when the 2026 NFL Draft rolls around next spring.
