Joe Flacco Is The Perfect Quarterback For An Imperfect Browns Season

The Browns looked down and out against the Chicago Bears in Week 15 after Joe Flacco struggled for the better part of three quarters, but the veteran QB bounced back to lead Cleveland to a memorable win

The

Joe Flacco

feel good story of appeared to be waning in Week 15.

Through three quarters, Flacco had completed just 54-percent of his passes, going 17-of-31, for 162 yards, one touchdown and a whopping three interceptions. Making matters worse, the Browns trailed the Bears by 10, and were at risk of falling to 8-6 – putting some serious pressure on their playoff hopes over the final three games of the regular season

Trailing the Bears 17-7, things were looking bleak, but there was still time and Flacco made the most of it.

"Believe me, part of you wants to crawl into a hole somewhere and hide from everybody, but you can’t do that —especially, somebody like me," Flacco said of his performance. "I’ve been in this league a long time and you’ve seen so much happen. You just have to keep your eyes on what’s next. You have to continue to look forward and continue to have faith that your teammates are going to get themselves in the right positions for you to get the ball to them. It might not happen, and today it just happened to work out for us."

right down the sideline!!

beauty of a ball from Joe 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/GTdUrIcfRb

— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) December 17, 2023

In the fourth quarter, Flacco was a nearly perfect, 11-of-13 for 212 yards. He threw a second touchdown, had a passer rating of 144.4 passer rating, but most importantly led the Browns offense to 13 unanswered points and an improbable 20-17 win.

"I think when you look at it, we just got a few chunks and then guys made really good runs with the ball, the 16-year veteran explained. "I feel like they did a pretty good job of keeping us underneath of them all day and we were trying to take little bits at a time, but they were aggressive. As soon as they saw the ball thrown, they were breaking on things and making us go the long, hard way. And then late in the game, we started to get some chunk plays that we definitely kind of thrive on. When we can get those going, then we’re a good offense.”

Flacco's 212 yards were the most for a Browns QB in a single quarter in 45 seasons. Additionally, his 939 yards passing over the last three weeks are the most by a Browns QB through three starts in franchise history, surpassing Baker Mayfield, who had 875.

He has David Njoku and Amari Cooper to thank for Sunday. That duo each posted 100 yards receiving – the first time since 2013 that Cleveland had two pass catchers amass over 100 yards in the same game. 

The first three quarters were objectively ugly, but that fourth quarter served as a microcosm for this peculiar season, cursed by some of the worst injury luck in NFL history. 12 players have been lost for the season already. Safety, Grant Delpit makes 13, as his regular season at the very least is done. A 14th may be looming in DE Ogbo Okoronkwo, who is dealing with a pectoral injury. 

Most teams would have crumbled under those circumstances by now – not the 2023 Browns.

"Listen, I think it just tells you a lot about the kind of guys that this organization has purposely picked to put on the roster and in that locker room," Flacco said. "And I think it’s one of those things that you probably can’t quite quantify. But having hard workers, having tough guys and all those things, if you’re put in situations where you need to have that resilience, like I said, not every one of them are going to work out. 

"There is a little bit of probably luck involved in things like today, but I think it just speaks to the character of the guys in that room. And I think you have to give credit to the organization for probably doing that on purpose.”

When It Comes To David Njoku, Browns Take The Good With The Bad

Call it luck, call it great team building – there's plenty of credit to go around. Flacco certainly deserves his fair share. 

From the couch to the field, in a matter of weeks he's become a steady heartbeat of this team. A lot has gone wrong to lead to Flacco starting under center. At the ripe old age of 38, he's been the perfect quarterback in an imperfect season.