This past Sunday, October 10, 2021, the Cleveland Browns went head to head against the Los Angeles Chargers on their home turf inside of the SoFi Stadium. Los Angeles barely came up with the victory at the conclusion of regulation, in which most opposing fans are claiming to be due to the fact that the referees continuously failed to make the correct calls, throughout the entirety of the game. They sent Baker Mayfield back home to Cleveland with a heartbreaking 47-42 loss and a new season record of 3 wins and 2 losses, while making a statement to the rest of the league.
With this loss, Mayfield and the Browns made history by officially becoming the first NFL team to ever walk away with a loss “after gaining 500 yards and scoring 40-plus points, without any turnovers.” Despite the disappointing outcome, the 26-year-old quarterback threw an impressive 305 yards and put up a total of two touchdowns to finish relegation. He gave his opinion during a postgame interview as to why he believes he and his team failed to gain this victory when he said, “We didn’t make enough plays to win the game, and that goes for everybody on our team. We didn’t do that… We haven’t played a complementary football game yet.”
Taking a deeper look into Los Angeles’ side of the match, quarterback Justin Herbert managed to overcome one of the most stressful back and forth NFL games of his career, after beginning only his second full season. Herbert had an incredible game with a whopping total of 398 passing yards while launching himself to a new career-high of five touchdowns; this victory propelled him to achieve his 11th 300-yard game. “Like I told the team in there, the reason why he’s being able to play how he’s capable of playing is that he has a really good team around him,” head coach Brandon Staley stated. “To win a game like this, one that turns into a track meet, you have to have a superstar quarterback to win it.” The Chargers now have a firm 4-1 season record as they head into their next game on Sunday, October 17, against the Baltimore Ravens.