CLEVELAND _ The Browns being blown out 31-7 on Sunday to the previously winless Cincinnati Bengals at FirstEnergy Stadium serves as a sobering reminder about how far the organization has fallen since it sat atop the AFC North nearly three years ago.
Remember when the Browns defeated the Bengals 24-3 on Nov. 6, 2014, at Paul Brown Stadium?
In Mike Pettine's first season as their coach, the Browns improved to 6-3 with the win in front of a national TV audience on Thursday Night Football and moved into a tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers for first place in the division. Late in the game, Browns fans who made the trip to Cincinnati chanted the name of former Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer.
However, the Browns have gone 4-38 since then.
The list of reasons for the stunning collapse is incredibly long, but this is what's most relevant now: After coach Hue Jackson was hired as Pettine's successor last year, the Browns spearheaded an ultra-aggressive youth movement under the guidance of a revamped, analytics-driven front office led by head of football operations Sashi Brown and chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta.
The approach has yielded a rebuilding team incapable of consistently winning now.
It was painfully obvious as the Browns lost their sixth consecutive meeting with the Bengals and fell to 0-4 to begin a season for the fifth time since 1999.
Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton went 10-of-33 passing for just 86 yards with a rating of 2.0 when Hoyer outperformed him in 2014.
He entered Sunday with the NFL's 30th-ranked passer rating this season but thoroughly dominated the Browns as the Bengals improved to 1-3.
Dalton finished 25-of-30 passing for 286 yards and four touchdowns without an interception for a rating of 146. He also ran four times for 29 yards and took three sacks.
His counterpart didn't fare as well.
Browns rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer went 16-of-34 passing for 118 yards and no touchdowns with an interception for a rating of 43.5. He ran five times for 10 yards and took one sack.
Backup Kevin Hogan replaced Kizer with 6:30 remaining in the game and helped the Browns avoid being shut out for the first time since Dec. 14, 2014, when they suffered a 30-0 defeat to Cincinnati at home in ex-NFL quarterback Johnny Manziel's first start. Running back Duke Johnson capped a 12-play, 63-yard drive by rushing for a 1-yard touchdown with 1:54 left.
After losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-18 at home, then the Baltimore Ravens 24-10 and Indianapolis Colts 31-28 on the road, the Browns took a huge step backward against the Bengals.
The Browns have a bad habit of making winless teams look like powerhouses. Just ask the Bengals, who led 21-0 at halftime and never looked back. As the teams headed to the locker rooms at the end of the first half, the Cleveland crowd booed loudly.
Dalton went 17-of-18 passing for 215 yards and three touchdowns without an interception for a rating of 156 in the first half. Conversely, Kizer went 8-of-16 passing for 67 yards with an interception and a rating of 35.2 in the first half.
Before their doors were blown off, the Browns wasted a golden opportunity early in the game. Defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah strip-sacked Dalton and recovered the fumble at the Bengals 30-yard line with 12:21 left in the first quarter. But wide receiver Kenny Britt fell out of his break on a comeback route and dropped a low pass from Kizer on third-and-10. The Browns summoned rookie kicker Zane Gonazalez for a 48-yard field goal, but he missed wide left with 11:05 remaining in the opening quarter.
After a high snap from center JC Tretter doomed the Browns' next possession, Bengals cornerback Adam Jones returned a punt 40 yards to the Browns 35-yard line. Two plays later, Ogbah forced running back Jeremy Hill to fumble, but Bengals center Russell Bodine recovered at the 30 to keep the drive alive.
Shortly thereafter, the Bengals faced third-and-6 when wide receiver A.J. Green ran a corner route against rookie safety Jabrill Peppers and caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Dalton, allowing the Bengals to seize a 7-0 lead.
The Browns threatened to counter but committed a dreaded red-zone turnover. On third-and-9 at the Bengals 16, Kizer's pass went off Britt's hands and bounced off his chest at the 8 and was intercepted by safety Clayton Fejedelem with 10:01 left in the second quarter.
With the momentum on their side, the Bengals produced a 13-play, 88-yard scoring drive. Dalton finished it with a 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tyler Kroft with 2:33 left in the second quarter.
The Browns failed to respond, going three-and-out. The Bengals then turned it into a route when running back Giovani Bernard took a Dalton screen pass 61 yards for a touchdown. Bodine put a hand in the face of Peppers while blocking downfield, but no penalty was called. The score allowed the Bengals to go ahead 21-0 with 47 seconds left in the second quarter.
The Bengals extended their lead to 24-0 on the first possession of the second half when Randy Bullock made a 41-yard field goal with 11:28 left in the third quarter.
They went ahead 31-0 with Dalton's 16-yard touchdown pass to Kroft with 3:37 remaining in the third quarter.
