The Cleveland Browns' season is over after absorbing a beatdown at the hands of CJ Stroud and the Houston Texans in the AFC Wild Card round Saturday night. Not a lot went the Browns' way in that contest, leaving Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski making an admission during the postgame press conference.

“We picked a bad day to have a bad day,” Stefanski said (h/t Scott Petrak of The Chronicle Telegram).

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The Browns looked great early in the game versus the Texans, as they took a four-point lead after a rushing score by running back Kareem Hunt in response to Houston's field goal. However, the wheels quickly fell off for Cleveland after that, with quarterback Joe Flacco seemingly running out of magic and Stroud being electric the rest of the way. Flacco, who became a messiah for the Browns late in the regular season when he stepped in to quarterback the squad following the season-ending injury of Deshaun Watson, went 33/46 for 3017 passing yards and a touchdown, but he also got intercepted twice and sacked for times for a loss of 39 yards. Stroud, meanwhile, was 16/21 for 274 passing yards and three touchdowns with zero interceptions to lead Houston to a 45-14 victory.

Despite the loss, Stefanski and the Browns can hold their head high. They managed to book a ticket to the NFL playoffs even though they lost Watson and running back Nick Chubb to injuries. Cleveland finished second in the AFC North division with an 11-6 record — the Browns' best since 2020, when they also had 11 wins.