The Cleveland Browns' decision to stick with Johnny Manziel at quarterback the final six games was not a “why not” decision.

Reducing the decision to that phrase grossly oversimplifies the situation.

Manziel earned the right to keep the job with his play in Pittsburgh, and even though it was in a bad loss, it was enough for the coaching staff to flip the switch and say it is time to see what Manziel can do.

If coach Mike Pettine made anything clear this season, it was that he was not going to play Manziel “just because.”

The list of “just because” stuff isn’t tough to bring to mind.

Just because he was a first-round pick.

Just because the team was losing.

Just because the Browns needed to know what they have in their first-round pick.

That isn’t Pettine. He needed a reason to believe Manziel deserved to be on the field, a reason to believe the offense would not be the messy quagmire it was in Cincinnati on Nov. 5.

Manziel gave the team that reason Sunday in Pittsburgh, when he threw for 372 yards -- and more important, ran the offense like an NFL quarterback.

The weird thing is the Browns didn’t want to play Manziel against the Steelers. Had Josh McCown been healthy, he’d have been the starter, and had McCown kept the game close, he probably would be the starter heading into the Monday night game against Baltimore.

But doctors advised McCown not to play, which gave Manziel a chance.

And unlike the fumbled chance he had in Cincinnati, Manziel took advantage in Pittsburgh. He made throws from the pocket. He made throws on third down. He read the defense and took what was given. He could have had two more touchdowns, but one was dropped and another was called back by penalty (after Manziel missed scoring by one foot). He ran when he had the chance but didn’t put himself at risk by running too quickly or recklessly. And he shrugged off a first-play fumble to go on and throw for seven fewer yards than Ben Roethlisberger.

He did things that many thought he could not or would not do. And he did it after seeing over and over on film the things he did not do in Cincinnati. It was alarming to hear Manziel compare the second half of the Bengals game to last season’s disastrous opener. It was encouraging to see him show that this time he learned from it.

Manziel has to sustain what he did in Pittsburgh. He has to avoid off-field issues. He has to realize 52 other players are counting on him to be a professional through the bye weekend and into next week’s preparation. He did learn late in the day Tuesday that the NFL was taking no action for his Oct. 12 incident in suburban Cleveland and said he was "not going to do anything that’s going to be a distraction to this team or be an embarrassment to the organization" during the bye week.

Manziel finally has the chance he -- and his many passionate supporters -- have wanted.

Because if he sustains what he did in Pittsburgh and shows he can handle an NFL offense, the Browns may be able to go into the offseason with a totally different feeling about him compared to a year ago when the offseason began.

The feeling that they can count on him to be in the mix, and perhaps even start, when the 2016 season begins.