Written by Jonathan Knight

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Useless nuggets of information from Sunday’s Browns game that you can certainly live without…

HOLIDAY DEPRESSION: The Steelers now have won 16 of the last 17 meetings with the Browns and lead the all-time series, 64-56.

FRUSTRATING FINALES: This was the 10th time the Browns have finished a season against the Steelers, with a record of 1-9. Their only victory came in their first season-finale matchup, a 30-17 victory in 1983 remembered as Brian Sipe’s final game in Cleveland. The Browns have lost the nine games since.

SWEEP CITY, PART ONE: Sunday’s loss marked the second time in team history the Browns went through an entire season losing all of their division games. The other was 2006, when they were also swept in six straight by the AFC North.

WEAKENED DRAWING POWER: With 68,266 in the stands on Sunday, the Browns finished with a season home attendance total of 526,874 - an average of 65,859 per contest. That’s the worst since their rebirth and lowest since 1995, when the second half of the season saw attendance drop dramatically for - ahem - obvious reasons. Sunday also marked the 23rd straight home game in which the Browns failed to draw 70,000.

RESOLUTIONS: This was the second time in their history the Browns have played on New Year’s Day. The first was in 1995 when the beat New England in a first-round playoff (their most recent postseason victory).

SWEEP CITY, PART TWO: Pittsburgh completed its second straight season sweep of the Browns and its seventh in the last eight years.

GOING OUT WITH A WHIMPER: The Browns closed the season on a six-game losing streak, joining other recent miserable finishes to recent seasons over the past two decades:

2010: lost last four games

2008: lost last six games

2006: lost last four games

2000: lost last five games

1999: lost last six games

1992: lost last three games

1991: lost last three games

ALMOST HISTORICAL: Had the Browns won and finished the season with a 5-11 record, it would have been the 10th time in NFL history that a team posted the same record three consecutive years. The last team to do it was the Buffalo Bills, which finished 7-9 from 2006 through 2008.

DISGUSTING: This was not the first time in the history of the series the Browns were held without a touchdown in a season against Pittsburgh. It also happened in 2008, when the Browns managed just two field goals in their two games with the Steelers. (If you want to split hairs, you could count 1990 since the Cleveland offense didn’t score a touchdown in two games against Pittsburgh - the Browns’ lone touchdown that year was on a fumble return by cornerback Anthony Blaylock.)

CRAFTY CRIBBS: Josh Cribbs closed out an otherwise quiet season with a sterling performance, setting new career bests in receptions (seven) and yards (91). His previous bests were five (Denver in 2009 and Baltimore 2010) and 74 (Kansas City 2010).

MORE THAN FOUR: The Browns finished with a 4-12 record for the fourth time since the NFL adapted to a 16-game schedule in 1978. The only record they’ve posted more regularly is 5-11, which they’ve posted six times. In the 14-game era, they finished 9-5 four times as well.

GO FIGURE: Incredibly, going into Sunday, the Browns had won three of their last four games in the month of January.

LESS THAN IMPRESSIVE: Seneca Wallace saved his worst performance for last, posting a miserable quarterback rating of just 42.4 on Sunday. Wallace finished the season with a rating of 65.4, trailing Colt McCoy’s 74.6. Combined, the two posted a season rating of 72.8.

THE UNDER-300 CLUB: Sunday was the ninth time this season the Browns failed to top the 300-yard mark in total offense. On the flip side, the Cleveland defense allowed more than 300 yards in a game for the 11th time this season.

NOT WHAT WE WERE LOOKING FOR: Pat Shurmur posted the third-worst record ever for a first-year Browns head coach, topped only by Chris Palmer and the 1999 expansion Browns going 3-13 and Forrest Gregg’s 3-11 in 1975. Bill Belichick (6-10), Butch Davis (7-9), Romeo Crennel (6-10), and Eric Mangini (5-11) all did better in their first years.

MORE OFFENSIVE OFFENSE: This was the 13th time this season the Browns were held under 20 points, the 10th time they were held to 14 points or less, and the fourth time they failed to score a touchdown. 

DIVISIONAL DOLDRUMS: Over the past four seasons, the Browns have a record of just 3-21 within the AFC North, 2-10 at home.

WHERE WE RANK: Averaging 4.5 yards per play, the Browns’ offense finishes 30th in the NFL, and their 13.6 points scored per game also comes in 30th. The Cleveland defense allowed 5.1 yards per play, putting it ninth in the league, and their 19.2 points allowed per game put the Browns fifth.

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