CLEVELAND — The first person who would tell you Joe Flacco was having a very bad day on Sunday was the Browns quarterback himself.

Three quarters through the Browns' home game Sunday against the Chicago Bears, Flacco had thrown as many touchdowns to the Bears as he had to his own teammates. Not only that, but another of his three interceptions had set up another touchdown for Chicago, which was holding a 10-point lead.

"Oh, believe me, part of you wants to crawl into a hole somewhere and hide from everybody," Flacco said of the feeling at the moment. "But you can't do that, especially me."

Instead, Flacco went from frustrating to fantastic as he led his 26th game-winning fourth-quarter or overtime drive. The Browns, meanwhile, went from sure-fire losers in the game to 20-17 winners over the Bears, giving them a 9-5 record and maintaining their place as the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoff race.

The 38-year-old started the game 17-of-31 for 162 yards in the first three quarters, with one touchdown and three interceptions, including a pick six by Chicago's Tremaine Edmunds early in the third quarter. The Browns found themselves down 17-7 with 15 minutes left.

"I mean, I've been in this league a long time and you've seen so much happen," Flacco said. "You just have to keep your eyes on what's next. You have to continue to look forward and continue to have faith that your teammates are going to get themselves in the right positions for you to get the ball to them. It might not happen."

Except that it did for Flacco and the Browns in the fourth quarter. He completed 11 of 13 passes for 212 yards — the most fourth-quarter yards by a Browns quarterback in 45 years — and a touchdown, as well as a 144.4 passer rating, in the the final 15 minutes.

It started with his first throw of the quarter.

After the Browns were called for a false start on their first play after stopping the Bears on fourth down at the Cleveland 33, Flacco dropped back and chucked it deep to Marquise Goodwin. Goodwin pulled in the pass and ran 57 yards to the Chicago 15, setting up a Dustin Hopkins 33-yard field goal to cut it to 17-10 with 12:27 remaining.

"He hit it when it mattered," Goodwin said of Flacco, who finished 28-of-44 for 374 yards with two touchdowns, three interceptions and a 77.3 passer rating.

It mattered with 3:18 remaining and the Browns down seven and at their own 49. That's when Flacco — who has thrown a franchise-best 939 yards and seven touchdowns in his first three starts — threw another of those passes which had people remembering the 28-year-old version of him while he was winning games in Cleveland quarterbacking the Baltimore Ravens,

Flacco executed a slight play-fake to Pierre Strong before firing a laser to Amari Cooper, who was running a mid-range crossing pattern. Despite the presence of three Bears defenders around him, Cooper caught the pass around the Chicago 27.

"That was all Joe," said Cooper, who had four catches for 109 yards and a touchdown on eight targets. "That had nothing to do with me. Not many quarterbacks could make that throw, man. When I was running across, I felt that I was open a little bit, but the window was so small that if he hadn't thrown it how he threw it, it would've been impossible for me to catch it. So that's all credit to Joe."

The rest of it, though, was all credit to Cooper. He turned upfield at about the Bears 23, just steps from the sideline, and ran into the end zone to help tie the game at 17-17 — after Dustin Hopkins' all-important point-after kick — with 3:08 left.

For Cooper, though, there was one thought running through his mind as he headed toward the end zone. It was of the TD catch he didn't get credit for in Week 3 against the Tennessee Titans, when the officials ruled he had stepped out of bounds while turning upfield even though replays showed he was more than a foot inbounds at that time.

"Yeah, I mean, it's a scar," Cooper said. "You're in this league long enough, you have scars from previous events. So yeah, it was kind of in my mind a little bit."

When you've been in the league as long as Flacco has been, you don't worry when you're in a third-and-15 situation from your own 47 with 56 seconds left in a tie game. Instead, you put the perfect touch on a pass to your tight end, David Njoku, and let him run you down to the Bears' 19.

That's exactly what Njoku, who had 10 catches for 104 yards on 14 targets, did. That set up Hopkins for his 34-yard go-ahead field goal with 34 seconds remaining.

"When you get the ball in his hands, he's such a strong runner," Flacco said. "... You probably don't get a great chance to see what (he) does in the run game and how physical he is, but you do get a chance to see that when he gets the ball in his hands and it's just the kind of player he is. Started the drive with him and it was a huge play by him to get us down in the field goal range there."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on Twitter at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Joe Flacco's big 4th leads Browns to comeback win over Bears