Nick Chubb runs for 2 TDs to give Browns key win in first game against Steelers since season ended

As snow fell on Huntington Bank Field throughout the night, the drama was high and the emotions were masked. After the Browns’ win, however, it was clear how much Chubb’s performance — and persistence — meant to his head coach and teammates.

“I’ve honestly run out of superlatives for Nick,” Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “He’s my favorite player on the team. You can tell everybody else I said that. I have a favorite kid, too. She’s not here. But Nick does the right thing all the time. And to see what he’s gone through to get back and put himself where he is just to be back and play in the first place and then be out there performing like he’s performing and scoring for this football team when we need him the most. He’s a special, special player, but he’s a great person.”

Last year, Chubb was carted off the Acrisure Stadium field on September 18, 2023 after suffering a horrific knee injury that would end his season and even put his career in doubt.

He missed the final 15 games of the ’23 season and the first six contests of the 2024 campaign.

Chubb returned in Week 7 and scored a touchdown in his season debut against the Cincinnati Bengals. He was held scoreless in the next three games until Thursday.

Chubb’s display, as he looks to return to the four-time Pro Bowl form that was robbed of him last year, was on many minds before, during and after Thursday’s flurry of snow and spectacle.

“I saw it all week, saw it in his eyes, this meant something to him,” Garrett told Prime Video’s Kaylee Hartung. “This game right here, getting back to this rivalry, being able to get his back. That touchdown to set us up, that’s why you watch the game. That’s why we love the game and do what we We just try to play for him as much as we can, because we didn’t know if we wanted him back, and for him to have this moment in a special environment like this, we can’t ask for better.

Perhaps it was meant to be, though Chubb approached the game as he would anyone else.

“I don’t think it meant anything other than he’s going to do everything in his power to help this team win,” Stefanski said when asked what he thought the performance meant for his RB. “Nick Chubb, he’s the consummate teammate. He’s the best I’ve been around in that regard, and he wants to help the team win.”

Wins have been hard to come by in a trying season for the Browns.

On Thursday, they were just their third one season removed from a playoff spot. In a season of strife, it was a cold win that no doubt left players and fans alike feeling warm and cozy, if only for a week. Much of that is due to Chubb’s production on the field and what he means to the organization off it.

“We talk about being a resilient football team,” Stefanski said. “You can talk about it until you’re blue in the face, but you have to show it. I thought the guys showed it today.”

It’s unlikely that anyone embodies solving more than Chubb.

Although it’s still fall, the Browns emerged from a winter wonderland with an upset, Chubb leading the way against a very familiar foe.