CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Johnny Manziel era in Cleveland Browns football is officially under way. Will it last longer than the tenure of other Browns No. 22 picks Brady Quinn and Brandon Weeden?

Only time will tell. But coach Mike Pettine took the football out of hometown hero Brian Hoyer's hand today and placed it firmly into Johnny Football's, Northeast Ohio Media Group has confirmed.

Fox's Jay Glazer was the first to report the news that Manziel will start.

The former Heisman Trophy winner will start his first NFL game Sunday against the 8-4-1 Bengals at FirstEnergy Stadium, taking over a 7-6 Browns team that Hoyer guided to the brink of the playoffs.

In the end, however, Hoyer -- with his job and the playoffs on the line --- lost three of his last four games, throwing one touchdown and eight interceptions in that span.

Pettine said Monday that the passing game has been "substandard'' and "it's natural to lean the other way.''

He stressed that he wanted to talk to his staff and meet with the quarterbacks before making his announcement.

Asked if Manziel would be prepared for the big event, Pettine said "absolutely.''

With three games remaining, the Browns are in last place in the AFC North, 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Bengals, and still have a shot at the playoffs if they win out. The Ravens and Steelers are tied for second place at 8-5.

The decision was difficult, because Hoyer is 2-0 against the Bengals, including a 24-3 win Nov. 6 in Cincinnati.

"When you go back and watch the tape, there are clearly some throws that he missed, but I think it was also exaggerated by how poorly we were in the pass game around him,'' Pettine said Monday of Hoyer in Sunday's loss to Indianapolis. "That's difficult. The quarterback is only as good as his supporting cast, so when the guys around him play well, Brian will play well.

"It's rare that there's a quarterback that can transcend his supporting cast. You go to even the best ones in the league and the guys around him aren't playing at the levels they should be. It's very difficult to overcome that, but we're in the results business. We've lost two in a row. We all know what the numbers have been in the pass game, and for us to be successful, they need to improve.''

Manziel earned the nod in part because of his 80-yard TD drive in Buffalo, capped by his 10-yard dive into the end zone for the score.

He admitted last week that he was disappointed to be passed over for the Colts game. Manziel remained on the sidelines as the offense sputtered drive after drive en route to the 25-24 loss.

"Obviously, that's a decision that's made by coach Pettine and this week his answer was, 'no,''' said Manziel. "Moving forward, whatever transpires, maybe next time the answer will be, 'yes.'''

Manziel was determined to show Pettine and the offensive coaches that the job should be his.

"I felt like I came out and did what I was supposed to do and be prepared and come into the game and be on the field and be competitive,'' he said last week. "That's what I wanted to do and I want to show through practice even after this that my mood hasn't changed and I'm not taking this lightly.

"All this is going to do is motivate me to come in here to work every day, come to practice and continue to elevate my game to where next time where there's a situation like this that there's maybe no doubt."

Manziel will take the field against Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, who called him "midget'' in a radio interview on WLW-AM in Cincinnati this week. Lewis later apologized for the remark, saying "I really didn't mean anything by it.''

Maybe it will be just the fuel Manziel needs to keep the Browns' playoff hopes alive.