T-Shirt Proved Meaningless in Game Between Browns and Steelers
A t-shirt didn't lose the Cleveland Browns the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. It didn't throw or catch any passes. It didn't make a single block or tackle. And given the way some Browns players performed in those roles, the t-shirt might've been just as impactful. The shirt didn't start the game with a 10-0 lead only to score three points the rest of the game. And it didn't give up the 20 the Steelers scored. There were a number of reasons the Browns lost the game. They were undermanned and overpowered up front on both sides of the ball. Their secondary struggled, unable to play the ball all game. The offense couldn't execute consistently. An article of clothing was never a factor.
There are those that feel that a t-shirt Freddie Kitchens wore outside of work, picked out by his daughters, somehow embodied all the failures and unrealized potential not only in that game but the season as a whole. And if those people need that to rally around as a symbol of what has gone wrong with this season, more power to them. Players can be asked for reactions and people can then decide the fate of the head coach based upon them.
The biggest mistake Kitchens made was posing for a photo with the shirt on, but even that feels like a stretch. Much as the alleged guaranteed victory against the New England Patriots from Jarvis Landry that wasn't a guarantee, it's low hanging fruit that becomes an easy story, but doesn't provide any insight into the team or a specific game and completely misses the point.
If the Steelers, who were 6-5, having lost to the Browns two weeks earlier, playing to keep their playoff hopes alive as well as fight for their livelihood in general, needed a shirt to motivate them enough to beat the Browns, that says far more about their team than it does the Browns or their head coach.
The Browns started the game with a 10-0 lead. The Steelers then took control of the line of scrimmage and the game, scoring 20 of the remaining 23 points in the game. Unless the Steelers took the break between the first and second quarters to get themselves fired up over the shirt, it didn't matter.
Mike Tomlin is being celebrated for taking the heroic effort of going to the whiteboard during half time and drew up defensive assignments as an adjustment for the remaining two quarters. Maybe he took time to pull up the photo of Kitchens in the shirt to hammer home the point, but that seems unlikely.
No one cares that Sean Payton wore a shirt with Roger Goodell with a clown nose on it in a subversive shot at the commissioner for suspending him for a season. Those that remember it likely see it as a moment of solidarity for a fanbase with their head coach. And for Kitchens, if that shirt was meant to do anything, it was to show his players he was supporting them in wake of actions that impacted their season. It also seemed like a moment to empathize with fans, which would've been great if the Browns won the game, but since they lost, it's the reason.
The nature of football is that there's week between games and media entities and the sport itself needs something to fill in the empty space. Anything that can potentially become a story that can generate engagement and excitement for a game can get blown out of proportion. It's hype. That doesn't mean that those topics, often contrived for effect, actually had an impact on the game.
The real story here is Cleveland's t-shirt conglomerate has grown too powerful and has now taken to sewing discord within their professional sports teams to generate additional ideas for future apparel all in an effort to strengthen their stranglehold on Northeast Ohio in an effort to grow their empire for Browns Maven.
