Written by Thomas Moore

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For more than 59 minutes on Sunday, it seemed like the Cleveland Browns were going to find a way to lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After losing 23 of the past 27 games against the Steelers, it was no surprise that the agita level of Browns fans everywhere was on the rise as the game went along and, despite forcing eight Pittsburgh turnovers, the Browns could never deliver the knockout punch. And as Reggie Hodges lined up to punt with 19 seconds to go, the game still seemed very much in doubt.

But once Hodges’ punt went out of bounds at the Steelers’ three-yard line, it truly was game over.

Final score: Cleveland 20, Pittsburgh 14.

Not only was the win just Cleveland’s third at home since 1994 vs. the Steelers, but it kept this Browns team from becoming the Cleveland Browniest team of them all; that title still belongs to the 2010 squad, which managed to lose to Jacksonville despite forcing six turnovers.

The first half started out ugly for the Browns and came to a close just as poorly.

On the fourth play of the game, Brandon Weeden’s pass was tipped by Brett Keisel and intercepted by Lawrence Timmons, who rolled 53 yards for a touchdown.

One minute and 11 seconds into the game, the Browns were trailing 7-0 and fans were getting feelings of “here we go again” as they flash backed to the 2010 game where the Steelers scored just 43 seconds into what would turn into a 41-9 win, part of a four-game losing streak by the Browns to close out that season.

At the end of the half, third-string quarterback Charlie Batch drove the Steelers 84 yards in nine plays for a touchdown with one second left before halftime. The biggest play of the drive was a pass interference penalty on Browns cornerback Sheldon Brown in the end zone – the Browns only penalty of the first half.

But between those two scores the Browns defense was making life miserable for Pittsburgh, forcing three turnovers, allowing just one third-down conversion, and not letting the Steelers to cross midfield until the last drive of the half.

The offense was a different story, though, which explains why the Browns went into the half trailing, 14-13.

Despite starting drives at Pittsburgh’s 10-yard line, 44-yard line and 34-yard line thanks to the turnovers, the Browns only put up 10 points because of another rough day from Weeden (17-of-26 for 158 yards and four sacks), and the coaching staff’s over-reliance on Phil Dawson’s awesomeness.

The Browns settled for a Dawson field goal on one drive where they had first-and-10 on the Pittsburgh 18-yard line, and another field goal after having a first down at the 20-yard line. Their other score came on a five-yard pass from Weeden to Jordan Cameron.

Cleveland kept the pressure coming in the second half, forcing five more turnovers, including four in the fourth quarter. On the day, the Browns intercepted Batch three times and forced fumbles by all four Pittsburgh running backs – Chris Rainey, Rashard Mendenhall, Emmanual Sanders and Isaac Redman.

The Browns needed all those turnovers as the offense didn’t do much of anything against the No. 1 defense in the NFL in the second half except for one drive. Cleveland punted on six of its seven second-half possessions, going three-and-out four times and never gaining more than 17 yards in a series.

But they still found a way to score the only points of the second half, on a 15-yard touchdown run by Trent Richardson with 5:19 left in the third quarter. The score, set up by a Sheldon Brown interception, gave the Browns a 20-14 lead that they somehow held on to until the final whistle.

Richardson finished the day with 85 yards rushing and another 27 yards in receptions. While his 2.9 yard per carry average is nothing to get excited about, his 85 yards is the second-highest rushing total by a Browns running back in the last 16 games against the Steelers.

“To finish a close game like that is big for us,” Richardson said. “That’s the best defense I’ve played against since I’ve been in the NFL, hands down. I took a few shots and that was the hardest-hitting game I’ve played in so far.”

The Browns did what they needed to do on defense, no matter who was playing quarterback for the Steelers. The Browns run defense gave up just 49 rushing yards and a 2.5 per carry average to a group of runners who had averaged more than 120 yards a game over their past five games. The return to health of defensive tackles Phil Taylor and Ahtyba Rubin paid off for the second week in a row (the Browns held Dallas to just 3.0 yards per carry last week).

The Browns defensive front also completely owned the Steelers offensive line.

And despite not playing their best – primarily on offense – the Browns finally found a way to win a game that they normally lose. The Browns have also now won two division games in one season for the first time since 2007.

Maybe the fact that the team is loaded with first- and second-year players who don’t know they are supposed to lose to the Steelers made a difference on Sunday.

“I told the rookies they are now 1-0 against Pittsburgh,” Browns coach Pat Shurmur said. “We finished the deal. We didn’t finish the last two games we played but today we finished and that is what’s important. We have to try and establish ourselves as a team that can win at home and can win division games.”

It wasn’t a pretty win and it wasn’t an easy win – but nothing is when you are a 3-8 team.

While we heard some complaints that the Browns did not win by more points (because wins are so prevalent around here that God forbid we just enjoy a win), fans also need to be careful not to go overboard on this win simply because it came against Pittsburgh. As we saw in 2009, beating the Steelers has a tendency to become over-blown in the eyes of too many and is not necessarily a sign of progress.

Today’s win means nothing if the Browns go out and crap the bed the next two weeks against Oakland (3-8) and Kansas City (1-10).

“That was an ugly performance,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, coach, something that Browns owner Jimmy Haslam agrees with

“It’s good to see their fans leaving and our fans staying and cheering,” Haslam said. “It was a great win for us. It’s nice for me, but it’s bigger for our coaches and our players.”

And for the fans, who for one day got to see their favorite team come out of the game on the right side of the scoreboard – especially as it came at the expense of the Steelers.

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Browns fans weren’t even able to enjoy the win against Pittsburgh for a few minutes before the news came out that Weeden suffered a concussion (so did safety Usama Young) in the fourth quarter when his head hit Joe Thomas’ leg during a sack.

Weeden reportedly wanted to come back into the game, but the training staff hid his helmet.

If Weeden can’t make it through the NFL-mandated concussion protocol during the upcoming week, we will get Colt McCoy at quarterback against Oakland next Sunday.

So, so much fun being a Browns fan.

(Trent Richardson photo by ClevelandBrowns.com)

(Fans photo by The Associated Press)