View from Cleveland: Five things about the Browns victory over the Vikings

In Minnesota, the story of Sunday's game was about how the offense suffered a letdown after two games of scoring more than 30 points.

In Cleveland the story of the Browns' 14-7 victory over the Vikings was another week of solid defensive play — and a subject that will run true to Vikings fans: concern over the play of quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Mayfield was among those expressing that dissatisfaction.

Here's a look at some of what was written about the game, including links to the full stories.

On the Dawg Pound Daily blog, Randy Gurzi wrote: "The Cleveland Browns escaped with a 14-7 win on the road against the Minnesota Vikings but if Mayfield would have been playing the way he had in the first three weeks of the season, this one could have been a much bigger win. Mayfield missed several open receivers including Kareem Hunt in the end zone, Harrison Bryant deep in the second half, and Odell Beckham, Jr. who had a walk-in touchdown on their final drive had Mayfield hit him. After the game, the quarterback let it be known that he wasn't happy with himself. He had some choice words for his own performance while also thanking the defense for bailing him out."

On cleveland.com, Mary Kay Cabot explained why Mayfield's bad game could be a springboard for future success: Baker Mayfield will be mad at himself all over again when he rewatches Sunday's 14-7 victory over the Vikings, and that could be a good thing for him and the Browns. "An angry Baker often turns into a good Baker, and that's what the Browns need from him right now, especially as they head into a stretch of games against some good teams and winning quarterbacks, beginning Sunday against Justin Herbert and the Chargers, and then against Kyler Murray and the Cardinals. Mayfield described his own performance — 15-of-33 (45%) for 155 yards with no TDs and no INTs for a 59.5 rating — probably better than anyone else could have. "If I think that piss-poor performance is going to cut it, it's not,'' Mayfield said. "So I'll get better. Luckily we can lean on those guys [on defense] and run the ball when we need to do.''

That third-and-20 run to set up the field goal at the end of the first half. here's how Kareem Hunt described the play: "Hunt said he heard the play call and his initial thought was to get what he could, but then that quickly changed to 'Let's go get the whole thing. Then I see the lane open up and I was like, 'All right, I've got room to work,' he said. 'I knew where the sticks were, I knew where out of bounds was, so I made sure to get what I could and get out of bounds.' "

Columnist Terry Pluto explained on cleveland.com why beating the Vikings as they did was such a big thing for the Browns: "The season is only four games old. The playoffs are months away. And no one is predicting Minnesota will win the Super Bowl. But if the Browns do indeed become a force in the postseason with legitimate Super Bowl dreams, you can probably point to this game. Final score: Browns 14, Minnesota 7. That's right, the Browns held one the top offensive teams early in the season to a single TD. Even more impressive, the Browns defense seemed overwhelmed and underprepared early when the Vikings pushed 75 yards in 14 plays for a TD. That was on their first drive of the game. After that, nothing else."

Finally, one more reason the Browns were able to dominate the Vikings offense, as presented by defensive ends Jadaveon Clowney and Myles Garrett in the Akron Beacon-Journal. "Jadeveon Clowney made a revealing summer confession as he settled in with the Browns. The former No. 1 overall draft pick once thought the key for a defensive end was to play opposite another great end. Years in the NFL taught him that, instead, the secret sauce was to work next to kick-butt defensive tackles. After Clowney helped the Browns punish Minnesota in a 14-7 win Sunday, running mate Myles Garrett sounded as if he has come to a similar realization. Garrett chuckled when someone mentioned Cleveland's "Maliks in the middle," starting tackles Malik Jackson and Malik McDowell."