The Browns are just good enough to lose.

Translated, that means they just aren’t good enough the majority of the time.

That was evident again on Sunday when they fell 30-28 to the Los Angeles Chargers at FirstEnergy Stadium.

They are now 2-3, with their losses coming by a combined total of six points. They also have a last-second, one-point victory.

That’s the way it is in the NFL, with almost all of these games being close. It comes down to who make plays at the very end, and the Browns have not done a good job with that.

They did it in the opener when they defeated the Carolina Panthers on a booming 58-yard field goal with eight seconds left. And they did it in a 29-17 triumph over the Pittsburgh Steelers when they broke open a tight game down the stretch.

On Sunday, York missed his only two field-goal tries, including one late in the fourth quarter that would have given the Browns the lead.

Oh, sure, the Browns make positive plays, productive plays, but they make more negative ones. They miss kicks, they miss tackles, they miss open receivers, they miss assignments and they miscommunicate with their teammates and coaches. And when they do, they miss out on winning games that, like the one on Sunday, are there to be won.

It’s called a losing culture, which causes you to lose games that the good teams win. That’s because the good teams know how to close out games. That is, they know how to win.

The Browns just aren’t there yet.

Steve King