Browns rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw two touchdown passes and took care of the ball in his first career start Sunday, but it wasn’t enough in Cleveland’s 21-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in London.
Gabriel, the 94th pick in this year’s draft, completed 19 of 33 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns. However, Cleveland’s offense stalled in the fourth quarter, and Vikings backup quarterback Carson Wentz drove Minnesota 80 yards for the game-winning score, connecting with wide receiver Jordan Addison on a 12-yard touchdown with 25 seconds left.
“[Gabriel] looked like he usually does. Composed, making the plays that we know he can make,” defensive end Myles Garrett said. “He put us in position to win. We’ve got to help ourselves out.”
With the defeat, Browns quarterbacks are 0-17 in their first start since 1995, the longest such streak since 1950 when QB starts were first recorded, according to ESPN Research.
The Browns (1-4) up 10-7 at halftime, their first lead after two quarters since Week 12 of the 2024 season, and held a 17-14 edge entering the fourth quarter. But Cleveland’s offense picked up only one first down in the final quarter until its final possession. The Browns were 3-of-15 on third downs for the game.
“We just got to convert,” Gabriel said. “You look back, there’s obvious times you’ve got to go make it happen. It starts with me but us coming together collectively to go make that happen. But you look at a lot of the third downs to extend drives, that’s where we can continue to help ourselves.”
Gabriel, 24, became the 41st Browns quarterback to start a game since the franchise returned to the NFL in 1999, the most in the league during that span. He also became the first quarterback to make his first start in an international game.
The Browns turned to Gabriel after veteran Joe Flacco turned the ball over an NFL-high eight times in the first four games of the season. While Cleveland ran for a season-high 140 yards, Gabriel didn’t turn the ball over, and the Browns won the turnover battle 2-0, the quarterback change wasn’t enough to lift an offense that has scored 17 or fewer points in 10 straight games, dating back to last season, according to ESPN Research. That is tied for the longest streak in franchise history and is the longest streak by any team since the 2007 San Francisco 49ers.
“Probably premature to grade and those types of things,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said of Gabriel’s first start. “There were some good things, some rookie things to certainly clean up.”
