There was plenty of back-and-forth between the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers throughout the past week.

The latter ended up being the team to live up to all the talk.

The Steelers took an early 10-0 lead that proved to be insurmountable as Deshaun Watson and the Browns offense failed to reach the end zone on Sunday.

Cleveland's first two drives ended in fumbles, setting the tone for an ugly Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Browns fall out of first place with mistake-filled loss

The Browns couldn't do much of anything right in the loss. A quick glimpse at the box score shows how the Browns finished with 34 rushing yards, while the Steelers had 200. Jaylen Warren led the way with a dominant 17 carries for 143 yards.

The Browns defense had no answer for Warren and company, while the Browns offense struggled for each and every yard on the ground. That made passing the focus and resulted in Watson taking eight sacks, as he was under constant pressure with every single dropback.

The score may have been even worse if the Steelers capped off two early drives with touchdowns instead of field goals, and if DK Metcalf didn't bobble a potential big catch right into the arms of Denzel Ward.

Watson and the Browns have been comeback specialists in 2026, with the latest coming last week against the Tennessee Titans. Yet the Steelers are on an entirely different level, improving to 6-2 with the win.

Sunday's game also involved a rare Shedeur Sanders sighting in 2026. He came on for a series and completed two short passes while Watson was getting checked out on the sideline and ultimately cleared to return.

Fans seeking a positive from the loss can look to the big day from Harold Fannin Jr. The tight end finished with 10 catches for 154 yards, representing a new career-best in yards. Yes, some of the yardage did come near the end of the game. But there's still no denying his game-changing abilities when properly involved in the offense.

Next up is a road game against the 2-5 New Orleans Saints, currently resting up on a bye week. That is a team with a total of 602 rushing yards through seven games, so all eyes will be on the Browns defense to see if the unit can end this current trend of getting destroyed in the running game.

This loss was an ugly one, however, the Browns do get the split with the Steelers in 2026. Winning in Pittsburgh has been nearly impossible for the post-1999 Browns, so Sunday's loss was nothing too surprising.