CLEVELAND — Coach Matt Eberflus took the blame for the Bears giving up a 57-yard pass to Marquise Goodwin on first-and-15 early in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 20-17 loss.
He said he was too aggressive.
“I’ve got to make a better call. …” he said. “Just a Cover 2 would have been a great call there.”
The Bears were in better coverage for Amari Cooper’s 51-yard touchdown catch and run, he said. Cooper caught the ball between safety Jaquan Brisker, cornerback Terell Smith and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and ran up the right sideline.
“That play should have been picked …” he said. “The ball is in there long enough to at least deflect it.”
Jenkins hurt
Guard Teven Jenkins left the game with a concussion late in the second quarter and didn’t return. The Bears ruled him out shortly after he was helped off the field and put in a cart bound for the locker room.
The Bears replaced him with Cody Whitehair, changing the makeup of their line for the first time in a month. Sunday marked their fourth-straight game with the same starting five — the first time that’d happened in Fields’ career.
This and that
• Eberflus said he did not try to kick a 55-yard field goal at the end of the first half because it was about eight yards shy of Cairo Santos’ range. The reason for the discrepancy, he said — a 15 mph wind that would have been blowing in Santos’ face.
• Backup tight end Robert Tonyan dropped what would have been a 73-yard touchdown when he slipped behind the Browns safeties about 11 minutes into the game.
• NFL commissioner Roger Goodell watched the game from the Browns’ owners box as part of his league-wide tour. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine also attended the game.
• Marcedes Lewis, the Bears’ veteran blocking tight end, started the game in their jumbo package and tied former teammate Aaron Rodgers with most starts by an active player. They both have 224.
• Safety Jaquan Brisker, who hurt his groin in practice Wednesday, started and had a five tackles. He had 17 tackles last week.
