The Cleveland Browns are 3-1 after beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in primetime. Let that sink in for a minute. The Steelers struck first on Thursday night and led 7-0 after the first quarter.
Then the Browns took over. Denzel Ward intercepted a pass early in the second quarter to flip the momentum, and Cleveland scored 21 straight points in the quarter to lead by 11 at halftime. Pittsburgh clawed back in the fourth, and after Aaron Rodgers tied it at 24-24 with just under two minutes left, Deshaun Watson led another late drive, his third game-winning push in three weeks.
Andre Szmyt drilled a career-long 56-yard field goal to seal the 27-24 win. The Browns now sit atop the AFC North heading into Week 5. When asked after the game which stat stood out most, head coach Todd Monken answered bluntly: "27-24.
The rest of it doesn't matter." More news: NFL Insider Reveals Shocking Truth About Marvin Harrison Jr’s Trade Value Monken is a longtime offensive coach who got his start in 1989 at Grand Valley State. He worked at several other major college programs, including Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan, Louisiana Tech, Oklahoma State, and LSU, before landing his first NFL job as a wide receivers coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He held that position from 2007 to 2010 and later earned his first head coaching job at Southern Miss, where he led the Golden Eagles from 2013 to 2015.
From there, he coordinated offenses for the Buccaneers, Browns (2019), Georgia, and the Ravens before Cleveland hired him as head coach in January 2026. He helped Georgia win back-to-back national titles and helped Lamar Jackson win an MVP in Baltimore. But his only head coaching experience was those three years at Southern Miss, where he went just 13-25.
More news: Ravens Star Derrick Henry Makes Surprising Admission Ahead of Titans Clash More news: NFL Insider Hints Browns Could Shop Shedeur Sanders for the Right Price Expectations were low for Monken's first year in Cleveland, and he took heat for choosing Watson over Shedeur Sanders at quarterback. Now the Browns are riding a three-game win streak, sit in first place in their division, and Monken is slowly making a case for Coach of the Year.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
