Nick Chubb appears to have suffered another serious loss.
The Cleveland Browns’ four-time Pro Bowl running back suffered a season-ending knee injury during the second quarter of Monday night’s 26-22 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed after the game.
Chubb was ejected and beaten the rest of the game after a hit from safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. Chubb immediately clutched his knee after the 5-yard run and remained on the ground after the play — which ESPN officials refused to show a replay because of the serious injury — and players from both teams team gathered around him before he was taken.
Steelers fans chanted Chubb’s name as the ball carrier was carried off the field.
Chubb had 64 yards on 10 carries before exiting.
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Here’s the latest on what we know about the damage:
Latest Nick Chubb injury update
Stefanski did not provide information after the game regarding the exact nature of the injury, but he said he expects Chubb to miss the rest of the season.
“Obviously, Nick has a very significant knee injury. … You feel for the man. He’s a great football player, as we know, but he’s also a great person, so support we follow him every step of the way.”
Chubb was taken to a local hospital but returned to Cleveland after being released, Stefanski said.
Browns star defensive end Myles Garrett was candid in his assessment of what Chubb’s loss means for the team.
“It (expletive) hurts,” said Garrett in his postgame news conference. “That’s our brother. That’s my brother. … It’s a blow for the whole team, and we don’t want his injury to be in vain. We have to move on.”
Nick Chubb’s injury history
Monday night’s injury comes nearly eight years after Chubb suffered a severe injury to the same left knee as a sophomore at the University of Georgia.
On October 10, 2015, Chubb was injured on the first offensive play of the Bulldogs’ game against the University of Tennessee. The diagnosis: a dislocated knee, three torn ligaments (posterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral and lateral collateral) and cartilage damage.
“I remember what it felt like when it happened,” Chubb said a 2016 ESPN story about the injury. “There was a tingling sensation in my leg. My body went forward, and my leg went back. I knew something was wrong.”
After extensive rehab, however, Chubb returned the next season and rushed for 1,130 yards and five touchdowns. He crunched the numbers as a senior, rushing for 1,345 yards and 15 touchdowns as Georgia won the Southeastern Conference but fell to Alabama in overtime in the national championship game, before becoming the Browns’ second-round pick in 2018 NFL draft.
“Malcolm Gladwell writes about outliers,” former Georgia director of sports medicine Ron Courson told ESPN in 2016. “Nick is an outlier. He’s genetically gifted. He has an incredible work ethic, and he’s as mentally tough as anyone I’ve ever seen. . I’m not surprised he’s back.”
Chubb also sprained the MCL in his right knee in 2020 and missed four games while on injured reserve.
Reactions to Nick Chubb’s injury
When Chubb went down, active and former NFL players expressed their support for the Browns repeatedly as they wrote messages on X, formerly Twitter.
Browns options at running back after Nick Chubb’s injury
After Chubb’s injury, backup Jerome Ford led Stefanski’s offense. Ford, who was a fifth-round pick out of Cincinnati last year, racked up 106 rushing yards on 16 carries, with most of his production coming on a 69-yard run where he turned the field for a huge profit. He also reeled in a 3-yard touchdown catch and finished with three receptions for 25 yards.
Pierre Strong Jr. also barreled for a goal-line touchdown and had 1 yard on two carries.
