Game recap

Browns @ Titans

2026 Wk 7 · TEN 24, CLE 27

The Browns erased a 14-0 hole and won on Andre Szmyt's 32-yard field goal with three seconds left.

FanIQ Research · October 25, 2026 · 7 facts, every one from the play-by-play

Five Browns wins, all by four points or fewer: the fourth team since 1999 to start that way

Rare

Cleveland's first five wins of 2026 came by 4, 3, 3, 3 and 3 points, 16 points combined. Since 1999 only three other teams had their first five wins of a season all come by four or fewer: the 1999 Bears, the 2003 Texans and the 2009 Raiders. All three were under .500 when they got there, and none got there before Week 11. Cleveland reached five such wins in Week 7, at 5 and 2.

Teams whose first five wins all came by 4 points or fewer, 1999-2026

Season	Team	Week of 5th win	Record then	Combined margin
1999	CHI	11	5-6	13
2003	HOU	13	5-7	15
2009	LV	15	5-9	14
2026	CLE	7	5-2	16

Cleveland's 2026 wins

Week	Game	Score	Margin
2	CLE @ TB	CLE 23, TB 19	4
3	CAR @ CLE	CLE 21, CAR 18	3
4	PIT @ CLE	CLE 27, PIT 24	3
6	BAL @ CLE	CLE 13, BAL 10	3
7	CLE @ TEN	CLE 27, TEN 24	3

Why it matters. A team that wins five times by a field goal or a little more has, on the scoreboard, played five coin flips and won all of them; the three earlier teams on this list show how thin that margin is, because each of them also lost at least six games by the time it reached five wins. Cleveland is the outlier in the other direction, with only two losses. On Sunday, Tennessee tied it with 61 seconds left, and the winning kick came with 3 seconds left.

Six rushing touchdowns and no touchdown passes: the fifth game like it since 1999

Rare

Every touchdown in Nashville came on the ground: three by Tony Pollard, two by Quinshon Judkins and a 9-yard Deshaun Watson run that put Cleveland ahead 24-17 with 4:39 left. Watson threw for 308 yards and Cam Ward for 181, and neither threw a touchdown. Since 1999 a regular-season game has had six or more rushing touchdowns and zero touchdown passes five times. The other four were decided by 10 points or more; this one was decided on the last kick.

Games with 6+ rushing TDs and no TD passes, 1999-2026

Season	Week	Game	Score	Rush TD
2004	7	ATL @ KC	KC 56, ATL 10	8
2006	14	IND @ JAX	JAX 44, IND 17	6
2022	5	MIA @ NYJ	NYJ 40, MIA 17	7
2024	7	KC @ SF	KC 28, SF 18	6
2026	7	CLE @ TEN	CLE 27, TEN 24	6

Touchdowns, this game

Player	Team	Carries	Rush yards	Rush TD
Tony Pollard	TEN	25	129	3
Quinshon Judkins	CLE	17	96	2
Deshaun Watson	CLE	3	19	1

Why it matters. Both passing games moved the ball between the 20s; Watson's 308 yards were his most in a Browns uniform. What neither could do was finish drives through the air, so every drive that ended in six points ended with a run. The earlier games on this list were mostly blowouts where the winner ran out the clock in the end zone. This one had six rushing scores in a game that was tied at 14, 17 and 24.

Four of Cleveland's 11 wins from 14 or more down since 1999 have come at Tennessee

Milestone

Tennessee scored on its first two possessions, Pollard runs of 36 and 10 yards, and led 14-0 with 8:41 left in the first quarter. Cleveland has now won 11 regular-season games since 1999 after trailing by 14 or more, and four of them came in Nashville: 41-38 in 2001, 31-28 in 2002, 29-28 in 2014 (from 25 down) and 27-24 on Sunday. All four were decided by three points or fewer. The Browns are 5-4 at Tennessee since 1999, and four of those five wins needed a comeback of 14 or more.

Browns wins after trailing by 14+, 1999-2026

Season	Week	Game	Score	Largest deficit
2001	16	CLE @ TEN	CLE 41, TEN 38	14
2002	3	CLE @ TEN	CLE 31, TEN 28	14
2002	8	CLE @ NYJ	CLE 24, NYJ 21	18
2006	4	CLE @ LV	CLE 24, LV 21	18
2006	13	KC @ CLE	CLE 31, KC 28	14
2007	8	CLE @ LA	CLE 27, LA 20	14
2007	9	SEA @ CLE	CLE 33, SEA 30	15
2014	5	CLE @ TEN	CLE 29, TEN 28	25
2018	3	NYJ @ CLE	CLE 21, NYJ 17	14
2023	10	CLE @ BAL	CLE 33, BAL 31	15
2026	7	CLE @ TEN	CLE 27, TEN 24	14

Browns at Titans, 1999-2026

Season	Score	Winner
1999	TEN 26, CLE 9	TEN
2000	TEN 24, CLE 10	TEN
2001	CLE 41, TEN 38	CLE
2002	CLE 31, TEN 28	CLE
2008	TEN 28, CLE 9	TEN
2014	CLE 29, TEN 28	CLE
2016	TEN 28, CLE 26	TEN
2020	CLE 41, TEN 35	CLE
2026	CLE 27, TEN 24	CLE

Why it matters. Comebacks from two touchdowns down are rare for any team, and Cleveland has managed 11 of them in 28 seasons; finding four in one road stadium is a pattern nobody would schedule for. The only Browns win in Nashville that did not need one was the 41-35 game in 2020. Sunday's version came fast: Cleveland answered 14-0 with 17 straight points before halftime, then had to win it again after Tennessee tied it at 24.

Pollard scored three times and lost by three, the 10th back since 1999 to do it

Anomaly

Pollard ran 25 times for 129 yards and scored on runs of 36, 10 and 1 yards; the last one tied the game at 24 with 1:01 left. It was his second three-touchdown game, after 2022 against Chicago, and those three scores are three of his four rushing touchdowns through seven games of 2026. Since 1999 a player has run for three or more touchdowns in a regular-season game 248 times, and his team lost by three points or fewer in 10 of them.

3+ rushing TDs in a loss by 3 or fewer, 1999-2026

Season	Week	Player	Team	Carries	Yards	Rush TD	Score
1999	4	Tim Biakabutuka	CAR	12	142	3	WAS 38, CAR 36
2000	16	Marshall Faulk	LA	22	79	3	TB 38, LA 35
2002	7	Priest Holmes	KC	24	113	3	DEN 37, KC 34
2005	14	Larry Johnson	KC	26	143	3	DAL 31, KC 28
2013	13	Ben Tate	HOU	22	102	3	NE 34, HOU 31
2022	2	Nick Chubb	CLE	17	87	3	NYJ 31, CLE 30
2022	8	D'Onta Foreman	CAR	26	118	3	ATL 37, CAR 34
2024	14	Josh Allen	BUF	10	82	3	LA 44, BUF 42
2024	14	Josh Jacobs	GB	18	66	3	DET 34, GB 31
2026	7	Tony Pollard	TEN	25	129	3	CLE 27, TEN 24

Pollard's last two games against Cleveland

Season	Week	Carries	Rush yards	Rush TD	Result
2025	14	25	161	2	TEN 31, CLE 29
2026	7	25	129	3	CLE 27, TEN 24

Why it matters. Three rushing touchdowns usually decide a game: the scorer's team won 222 of the 248 such games since 1999 and lost 26. Pollard's two Cleveland games account for 50 carries, 290 yards and five touchdowns. Tennessee's problem was the stretch between his second and third scores, when its offense managed three first downs on 25 plays across the second and third quarters.

Down 14-0 in the first quarter, Cleveland never trailed after 2:22 of the second and won with 3 seconds left

Trend

Cleveland scored 17 straight points before halftime: Judkins touchdown runs of 5 and 6 yards and a 28-yard Szmyt field goal with 4 seconds left in the half. The third quarter was scoreless. Szmyt hit the right upright from 43 yards at 14:09 of the fourth with Cleveland up 17-14, and Joey Slye tied it from 29. Watson's 9-yard run made it 24-17, Pollard's 1-yard run tied it again with 1:01 left, and Watson completed passes of 6, 8 and 36 yards to reach the Tennessee 19. After a Tennessee offside penalty, Szmyt made a 32-yarder with 3 seconds left.

Scoring plays and the missed kick

Qtr	Clock	Team	Play	Score after
1	13:04	TEN	Pollard 36-yd TD run	TEN 7, CLE 0
1	8:41	TEN	Pollard 10-yd TD run	TEN 14, CLE 0
1	5:36	CLE	Judkins 5-yd TD run	TEN 14, CLE 7
2	2:22	CLE	Judkins 6-yd TD run	CLE 14, TEN 14
2	0:04	CLE	Szmyt 28-yd FG	CLE 17, TEN 14
4	14:09	CLE	Szmyt 43-yd FG, no good (upright)	CLE 17, TEN 14
4	8:44	TEN	Slye 29-yd FG	CLE 17, TEN 17
4	4:39	CLE	Watson 9-yd TD run	CLE 24, TEN 17
4	1:01	TEN	Pollard 1-yd TD run	CLE 24, TEN 24
4	0:03	CLE	Szmyt 32-yd FG	CLE 27, TEN 24

Turnovers

Qtr	Clock	Lost by	Play	Recovered or caught by
1	10:47	CLE	Watson pass intercepted	C.Flott, returned to CLE 24
2	7:15	CLE	Fannin fumble after catch	T.Adams at CLE 41
2	7:07	TEN	Ward pass intercepted	D.Ward at CLE 22
3	8:32	TEN	Tate fumble after catch	R.Hickman at TEN 41

Why it matters. The game swung twice in the first 15 minutes: Tennessee turned a Cleveland interception into its second touchdown, then Cleveland answered with three scoring drives in a row. From the 14-14 tie at 2:22 of the second quarter on, Tennessee never led again. The two late ties came after Cleveland had a chance to pull away and did not take it, first on the missed 43-yarder and then by scoring the go-ahead touchdown with 4:39 left, enough time for Tennessee to answer.

Tennessee went 44 minutes and 57 seconds between scores

Split

Tennessee's first quarter was its best football of the day: 17 plays, 127 yards, +0.311 EPA per play and two touchdowns. Then the offense stopped. Across the second and third quarters it ran 25 plays for 76 yards and three first downs at -0.618 EPA per play, with Ward's interception and Tate's fumble in that stretch. From Pollard's 10-yard touchdown at 8:41 of the first quarter to Slye's field goal at 8:44 of the fourth, Tennessee did not score. Its fourth quarter (20 plays, 119 yards, +0.324) looked like its first.

Tennessee offense by stretch (pass and run plays)

Stretch	Plays	Yards	First downs	EPA/play	Success rate
Q1	17	127	6	+0.311	64.7%
Q2 and Q3	25	76	3	-0.618	28.0%
Q4	20	119	7	+0.324	35.0%

Cleveland offense by quarter (pass and run plays)

Qtr	Plays	Yards	First downs	EPA/play
1	14	101	5	-0.069
2	23	176	9	+0.207
3	15	87	4	+0.022
4	14	127	7	+0.395

Why it matters. Cleveland turned Tennessee's middle-game drought into its 17-14 halftime lead: the Browns ran 23 plays in the second quarter to Tennessee's 14 and scored 10 points. Tennessee's quarters at the ends of the game were close in efficiency, so the result came down to those 30 minutes in the middle, when Tennessee gained 76 yards and Cleveland gained 263.

491 yards: Cleveland's best game of 2026 by 117 yards, with Watson's first 300-yard game as a Brown

Comparison

Cleveland had not gained more than 374 yards of offense in any 2026 game, and it had gained under 275 in five of six. In Nashville it had 491 yards, 25 first downs and +0.147 EPA per play, all season highs. Watson went 25 of 36 for 308 yards, the first 300-yard game of his 26 regular-season games for Cleveland; his previous Browns high was 289, also against Tennessee, in 2023. His last 300-yard game before Sunday was in Week 17 of 2020 with Houston, also against Tennessee. K.C. Concepcion caught 8 of 10 targets for 129 yards and Harold Fannin Jr. caught 6 for 91, including the 36-yarder that set up the winning kick.

Cleveland offense by game, 2026 (pass and run plays)

Week	Game	Plays	Yards	First downs	EPA/play
1	CLE @ JAX	49	272	14	-0.184
2	CLE @ TB	53	269	14	+0.009
3	CAR @ CLE	62	263	14	-0.022
4	PIT @ CLE	60	374	20	+0.099
5	CLE @ NYJ	65	198	11	-0.297
6	BAL @ CLE	60	237	12	-0.117
7	CLE @ TEN	66	491	25	+0.147

Watson's top passing games for Cleveland, regular season

Season	Week	Opponent	Comp/Att	Yards
2026	7	TEN	25/36	308
2023	3	TEN	27/33	289
2022	14	CIN	26/42	276
2026	4	PIT	24/33	268

Why it matters. Cleveland's earlier wins came from a defense holding opponents under 25 points while the offense did just enough. Sunday reversed that: the defense allowed 24 and the offense had to carry it. The jump came mostly through the air: Watson's 308 yards were 40 more than his previous 2026 high of 268, and Concepcion and Fannin combined for 220 receiving yards. It still took the last kick to win.

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