Baker Mayfield authored a dud in the Cleveland Browns' Week 4 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, missing far too many throws. That the Browns were able to still come away with a 14-7 victory speaks volumes about the defensive improvements.
Even with the W, Mayfield knows he can't perform like that and stack wins.
"I've got to do better. It's just flat out simple," he said, via the team's official website. "There's not much else I can say."
Mayfield completed 15 of 33 passes (45.5%) for 155 yards, took three sacks, threw zero TDs or INTs, and had a passer rating of 59.9. Mayfield generated his lowest completion percentage since Week 17, 2019 at Cincinnati, lowest passer rating since Week 6, 2020 at Pittsburgh, and fewest pass yards since Week 10, 2020 versus Houston.
The Browns went a measly seven of 18 on third downs as Mayfield missed chances to move the chains with his worst performance of the Kevin Stefanski-era.
"I need to do a good job of taking advantage of my opportunities and staying on track," Mayfield said. "I pride myself on being extremely accurate. And today, I don't know what the hell that was."
It was ugly, that's for sure.
The Browns ability to pound out 184 rushing yards saved the offense on Sunday. The defense shutting down a heretofore potent Vikings offense was key for Cleveland to get a win on a day its QB struggled.
"[They were] good enough for us to win when I'm playing quarterback like that," Mayfield said. "Thankfully they played like that. ... There's a lot of easy throws there that I think I missed."
Even the best QBs will author a clunker every now and again, as Mayfield did Sunday. The mark of a great signal-caller is to make those outings few and far between and bounce back strong after they do happen. The mark of a good team is the rest of the players picking up said QB on an off day and winning regardless. The Browns are a good team.