Browns vs Bears went worse than expected for Cleveland

The Cleveland Browns loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 1 of the 2026 preseason was meaningless, at least as meaningless as any game can be that could impact the starting quarterback for the upcoming season. The Browns had some positives and some negatives against the Bears, but questions remain at a variety of positions besides just quarterback.

As Cleveland returns to the practice field on Monday, turning their attention to the Buffalo Bills, Browns fans in DBN’s Feed are less than thrilled about the performance on Saturday. As of Monday afternoon, 52% say things went worse than they expected, while 40% say it went how they thought it would.

First half of game was promising. Second half was bad. Real bad. The OL will take time to gel and learn to work together, but once they do we’ll be more competitive. I hope lol – jameseperry26

P.U. is all I can say. – SparkyBarking

Not everyone saw only the bad:

I was at first disappointed in our first game out of the year- it looked like we were clobbered by the Bears. Then I read a couple of articles (including here), and thought there were some good nuggets from the game.

The bad: the line not opening things up in the run game (although 4 yards per rush is not terrible). Also, the D giving up many chunk plays. Yes, I know many of the D stalwarts DNP, which is common in preseason.

The good: Watson, at least statistically, had a good game. And that is against the backdrop of not playing in a game for nearly two years. Also, one thing I liked was that the target/completion ratio on WR throws was fairly high. I think that is something that had to please coach. – toledobob

While some are concerned that fans had too high of expectations going into the game:

I am not sure what some people expected? I expect that it will be not so good until the O-line works as a team. Barring injuries, it should improve in a few games. No matter if it is the combat field, or the football field, it takes mental unity. I hope that during the joint practices, the stress team work. We had a couple of good/great players on the O-line & D-line last year, and I can’t remember how many playoff games we won. – Jimbob49

Wow. I thought it was better! Evidently I’m in the minority. – Touchdownbrowns

I was certainly hoping that they would be better, but not expecting it. The fact that the QB for whom the team gave up multiple high picks is battling for the starting position against the 5th rounder who had an pretty bad rookie season tells you all you need to know to calibrate your expectatometer. – JustBob

You can join the poll above and the conversation below in our comment section. Looking back, how do you see the first preseason game under HC Todd Monken?