The short-handed lineup. The brutally cold conditions. The tough (and hungry) opponent on the road. Sunday’s game at Soldier Field was always going to be a tough one for rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders and the Cleveland Browns to manage.
That doesn’t entirely excuse Sanders’ final stat line in Sunday’s 31-3 loss to the Chicago Bears. It was ugly, much like this entire Browns season has become.
Sanders’ playmaking ability wasn't nearly enough to offset Cleveland’s rash of injuries on offense. He only completed 51.4 percent of his 35 pass attempts, and three of them were picked off by a Bears defense that led the NFL in takeaways coming in.