Why Cleveland Browns believe Baker Mayfield's speech was necessary after Week 1 loss to Chiefs

BEREA, Ohio — Baker Mayfield looked around the visiting locker room Sunday night at Arrowhead Stadium and thought the Browns needed to snap out of it.

Turns out the quarterback read his teammates properly, and his speech was needed after the Browns suffered a 33-29 season-opening loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, who had ousted Cleveland from the playoffs eight months earlier in the divisional round.

“Yeah, I think so," two-time Pro Bowl running back Nick Chubb said Wednesday. "I think for me personally, I was thinking like the season was over again 'cause that's how it ended last year. I had to take a second, step back and realize we have 16 more [games] to go. So it's not the end of the world. We did lose, but we can correct some things. Me personally, I can correct a lot of things, and we can go from there.”

Now the Browns (0-1) are moving on to prepare for Sunday's home opener against the Houston Texans (1-0), but Mayfield needed to help them turn the page. Chubb said wide receiver Jarvis Landry also addressed the team with its wounds reopened from the 22-17 playoff loss on Jan. 17 in Kansas City.

NFL POWER RANKINGS: How far did Browns fall after loss in opener?

FEED ZEKE?: Cowboys answer questions about Ezekiel Elliott’s role

Mayfield explained he saw some of his teammates hanging their heads and thought he needed to speak up partly because of the heartbreak the Browns experienced after all of the time and energy they had spent preparing for the Chiefs.

"I think we should beat ourselves up about it because we feel like we should have won that game, but there’s 16 more," Mayfield said. "So it’s the mentality of, 'Hey, we've got go out next week and go do our job. This one should sting and you need to learn from it because we had that game and we've got to close it out.'

"So I think there’s a fine line of walking that, and my message to them was, 'You know what? We’re going to be really good if we just do our jobs and continue to be efficient and move the chains and help out our defense by staying on the field. But this one needs to sting. You need to remember that, that all the little things matter, and that’s how you need to approach this week of practice.'”

Mayfield also hammered this point: Coming off a record of 11-5 followed by a drought-busting wild-card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs, the Browns are too good for moral victories, so they need to process their most recent setback against the two-time defending AFC champion Chiefs the right way

"Be critical of yourself. Absolutely should be, and I'll be damned if we're not because we expect to go in there and win," Mayfield said. "But there's also more opportunities, so you have to roll with the punches, face adversity. How do you handle it? How do you handle it the next week? How do you approach the week of practice and how do you know how to show up the next week?"

Mayfield's awareness of the mental state of the locker room is a good sign he has continued to evolve as a leader.