Nine yards.

Twenty-seven feet.

That’s all the Browns needed when, to start overtime on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium, they had the ball at the Denver 41 following linebacker Barkevious Mingo’s interception return of a Peyton Manning pass.

If the Browns could get that nine yards – that 27 feet – to get the ball to the 32, then they could set up dead-eye Travis Coons for about a 49-yard field goal to win the game.

The Browns were at home. A team needs to be able to get nine yards – 27 feet – at home at a crucial time in the game, and in the season. That’s certainly not too much to ask.

That’s especially the case when the quarterback is a longtime veteran in Josh McCown. The Browns outbid the Buffalo Bills to sign him in free agency. Head coach Mike Pettine plays him because he feels McCown, with the knowledge gained from all those years of experience, will make good decisions and give the team the best chance to win.

In that kind of situation, a veteran knows he can’t take a sack. And two sacks? Come on! He knows better than that. Even you know better than that.

Throw the ball out of bounds. Come back to play the next play and try again.

Just don’t take a sack, let alone two.

So what did this heady veteran, McCown, the guy with all that experience – that guy who gives the Browns the best chance to win – do?
He took a sack. Then another sack.

As a result, the Browns had to punt.

And they eventually ended up losing, 26-23.

The NFL is a league focused on quarterbacks.

The teams with the best ones – or the ones who are playing the best, or just the ones making the best decisions, especially late in the game when everything is on the line – are the teams that win.

The Broncos had a better quarterback on Sunday in Peyton Manning. He drove his team the length of the field to kick the game-winning field goal. McCown could not drive his team just nine yards – 27 feet – so the game-winning field goal could be attempted.

That’s the story of the game.

Too many times, that’s been the story of the game in the expansion era for the Browns, who still haven’t found their franchise quarterback – or even just one who can make good decisions and give his team a good chance to win.