Browns defense made this former 49ers star eat his words

The Cleveland Browns came to play on Sunday. They shut down the vaunted San Francisco 49ers offense in a 19-17 victory, and there may have been a little extra motivation behind their incredible effort. 

Ahead of their Week 6 contest, former 49ers safety Donte Whitner called the Browns top-ranked defense "pretenders." 

Whether the Browns heard Whitner's comments or not, he wasn't alone in doubting they could contain Brock Purdy and the Niners, but they did just that. 

Not only did the Browns silence Purdy and company, but they may have provided the blueprint for beating them. 

Cleveland held Purdy to his worst day as a pro. Purdy finished only 12-of-27 for 125 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He also posted an abysmal passer rating of 55.3, far surpassing his previous low as a starter of 88.8 recorded last December.  

Losing wideout Deebo Samuel and running back Christian McCaffrey to injury, the 49ers were playing shorthanded for much of the game, but both were virtually ineffective when on the field. 

Samuel finished with no catches (one target) and two carries for 11 yards. Meanwhile, McCaffrey rushed for only 43 yards on 11 carries, averaging 3.9 yards per carry, his second-lowest of 2023. 

He averaged 2.7 yards an attempt in Week 5, coming off 19 carries (51 yards) in a blowout win over the Dallas Cowboys (42-10). 

While Samuel and McCaffrey may have been unavailable, Purdy still had 

tight end George Kittle and WR Brandon Aiyuk at his disposal. However, Aiyuk was the only one to make any impact, posting four catches for 76 yards. Kittle, however, was a non-factor, targeted only twice in the loss, finishing with one catch for one yard. 

Overall, the Browns held San Francisco to 215 yards of offense, their lowest output since 2016. 

If there were questions about whether or not the Browns defense was for real, they answered them on Sunday and teams around the NFL were probably taking notes.