Not since a fateful Monday night in which his 2023 season ended in brutal fashion had Nick Chubb faced the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In the leadup to his Week 12 contest against the Steelers, the Cleveland Browns running back said it was just “a football game.”
By Thursday evening’s end, though, Chubb had plowed to two touchdowns to help his Browns to a 24-19 triumph over the Pittsburgh Steelers that won’t soon be forgotten, for the drama amid a frosty setting and the quiet running back’s storybook contributions.
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Browns quarterback Jameis Winston said after the win. “Before this game I told Nick, I said, ‘I got you today.’ I know how important this was for him. And we ain’t gonna talk about last year. Y’all all know the gig. But I’m so grateful and happy that I was able to see a smile on his face after that sweet victory against this team.”
Chubb was held to 59 yards on a grinding 20 attempts, averaging just three yards per carry, but he scored the game’s first touchdown on a 2-yard push with four minutes to go in the second quarter and the game’s last TD on another 2-yard plunge to pay dirt with just 57 seconds to go. They were the 50th and 51st rushing touchdowns of his career.
As snow fell upon Huntington Bank Field throughout the night, drama was high and emotions were masked. After the Browns’ win, though, it was clear just how much Chubb’s performance -- and perseverance -- meant to his head coach and teammates.
“I’ve run out of superlatives for Nick, honestly,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “He’s my favorite player on the team. You can tell everybody else I said that. I have a favorite kid, too. She’s not here. But Nick does the right thing all the time. And to see what he’s gone through to come back and put himself where he is, just to be back playing in the first place, and then be out there and performing like he’s performing, scoring for this football team when we need him the most. He’s a special, special player, but he’s a great person.”
Last year, Chubb was carted off the Acrisure Stadium field on Sept. 18, 2023, having suffered a dreadful knee injury that would end his season and even put his career in doubt.
He missed the final 15 games of the ’23 season and the first six contests of the 2024 campaign.
Chubb returned in Week 7 and scored a touchdown in his season debut against the Cincinnati Bengals. He was held scoreless over the next three games until Thursday.
Chubb’s showing, as he looks to get back to the four-time Pro Bowl form that was robbed of him last year, was in the minds of many before, during and after Thursday’s flurry of snow and spectacle.
“I saw it all week, saw it in his eyes, this meant something to him,” defensive end Myles Garrett told Prime Video’s Kaylee Hartung. “This game right here, coming back to this rivalry, being able to get his get back. That touchdown to put us up, this is why you watch the game. This is why we love the game and do what we do. We just try to play for him as much as we can ‘cause we didn’t know if we’d have him back. And for him to get this moment in a special environment like this, can’t ask for better.”
Perhaps it was meant to be, even if Chubb approached the game as he would any other.
“I don’t think it meant anything other than he wants to do everything in his power to help this team win,” Stefanski said when asked what he thought the performance meant to his RB. “Nick Chubb, he’s the consummate teammate. He’s the best I’ve been around in that regard and he wants to help the team win.”
Wins have been arduous to find in a trying season for the Browns.
On Thursday, they got just their third a season removed from a playoff berth. In a season of strife, it was a frigid win that no doubt left players and fans alike feeling warm and cozy, if for just one week. Much of that is due to Chubb’s production on the field and what he means to the organization off it.
“We talk about being a resilient football team,” Stefanski said. “You can talk about it until you’re blue in the face, but you have to show it. I thought the guys showed it today.”
It’s unlikely anyone embodies that resolve more than Chubb.
Though it’s still the autumn, the Browns emerged from a winter wonderland with an upset, Chubb leading the way against a very familiar foe.