Bears defense makes Browns 'quit' in 31-3 blowout — and aims to do same to Packers next

Man, it was cold Sunday at Soldier Field.

How cold?

So cold, surrounding trees chopped themselves into firewood. Fans in the stands chipped their teeth on Italian sausages. Punts froze in midair.

Way too cold for the Bears to be playing a football game — unless it was against a dead-on-arrival opponent with a below-zero chance to beat them.

The Cleveland Browns, people — appreciate them for their world-class wretchedness. A 31-3 ice-cream-cake-walk was a delightful way for the Bears to spend a few hours under any conditions.

“We knew we could come in here and dominate, so that’s really all we were trying to do,” cornerback Jaylon Johnson said. “Bring the energy, especially on a cold day.”

It never hurts to be up against a force as flimsy as the Browns (3-11), who came in with the NFL’s 30th-ranked offense and left with a fifth-round rookie quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, who was intercepted three times, sacked five times and, one can only assume, harassed into at least considering a career change.

Goodness, the Browns’ offense is bad.

How bad?

So bad, a Hail Mary is what they say before taking the field. A red-zone trip is what they call it when they go backward inside their own 20-yard line. “PAT” stands for, “Please, another timeout.”

But back to a mismatch that was reminiscent of the Bears-Browns game in 2021, except with the roles reversed. That day in Cleveland, Bears rookie Justin Fields made his first career start and was rag-dolled for nine sacks — 4½ of them by the peerless Myles Garrett — in a 26-6 defeat. Whether or not Fields ever recovered from that is up for debate.

This was the most dominant the Bears (10-4) have been defensively all season, and it isn’t close. They handled the Saints 26-14 in October, but it was a one-score game in the third quarter. They made easy enough work of the Cowboys 31-14 in September, but they allowed nearly 400 yards.

It hasn’t been as stress-free at Soldier Field since last season’s back-to-back blowouts of the Panthers and Jaguars, which, naturally, were followed immediately by a 10-game Bears losing streak. And not since 2021 had the Bears given up three points and fewer than 200 yards in a game.

“We knew what we could do,” said nickel corner C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who returned an interception 32 yards in the fourth quarter, leading to the game’s final points.

Defensive tackle Gervon Dexter, who sacked Sanders in the third quarter, didn’t exactly sugarcoat his assessment of the Browns.

“We wanted to ‘no mas’ ’em, you know what I mean?” Dexter said, invoking the phrase used by former Panamanian boxer Roberto Duran when he threw in the towel against Sugar Ray Leonard. “Make them quit. Strike fear in them. We wanted to see how tough they were and kill ’em.”

So, did it work?

“That’s how it felt, yeah,” he said. “And it felt great.”

It’s one thing to rip on the lowly Browns, but Dexter had a little something for the Bears’ archrivals, too — the Packers, of course, who will be here Saturday, two games after beating the Bears in a close one at Lambeau Field.

“It’s going to be the same plan against them,” Dexter said. “We owe them guys up there in Green Bay one, so that’s how we want to make them feel, too.”

Linebacker T.J. Edwards walloped Sanders from behind on the QB’s first pass attempt of the game. By halftime, the Browns had all of 57 offensive yards — 42 of them on one play — and were being more than quadrupled by the Bears in that department.

Johnson had a sensational interception, swiping the ball from receiver Jerry Jeudy’s bread basket at the Bears’ 1-yard line in the third. End Austin Booker collected his first two sacks since Nov. 2.

“Been itching to get a [bleeping] sack the last five games,” Booker said.

And what a moment in the frigid sun for linebacker D’Marco Jackson, who had the first sack and the first interception of his career. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had one of either, but it was in 2021 at Appalachian State on both counts.

Coach Ben Johnson gave Jackson a game ball afterward, which he still held proudly at his locker after dressing to head home.

“An amazing accomplishment for me, personally,” Jackson said.

It was a good day, period.

“Just three-and-outs, it felt like, all day,” Jackson said.

When Booker dumped Sanders for the second time, it ended the Browns’ final threat. Yes, we’re using “threat” loosely considering nothing was left but the formalities.

“A good step toward winning out,” Booker said. “And that’s definitely what we want to do.”