By STEVE KING

What was that?

It’s 40 hours later and I’m still asking myself that question following the Browns’ 45-7 loss to the host New England Patriots on Sunday.

I don’t do embarrassing and humiliating very well, and that was both of those to the nth degree. It was just plain ugly.

And there is absolutely, positively no excuse for it.

This is what I don’t understand: There are only 17 games in an NFL regular season. That is 17 days — a relative blink of an eye in a 365-day year — on which teams are judged. The other days are rehearsals for those 17 game days.

Players — and coaches — should be able to prepare and compete hard, and perform as well as they are capable of, 17 times. That the Browns failed so miserably in that regard is baffling, to say the least.

Are the Browns really that bad? Of course not. Then it is that they chose to give less than their best effort.

That is cheating, pure and simple. The Browns cheated their fans, the Northeast Ohio community, the organization, the rest of the team and, most importantly, themselves.

That they did it when they entered the day smack-dab in the middle of a super-tight, wide-open AFC playoff picture, with so very much at stake, is incredibly disappointing and disheartening.

Going forward, if the Browns know they are going to just mail it in, they should announce it so everybody can go do something else from to 1 to 4 o’clock on Sunday afternoons. People back home in Ohio were hopeful and excited as they tuned in to watch their favorite football team play. An hour later, they were already angry and frustrated, their Sunday ruined to a great degree and transformed into a no-fun day. They deserve better — much, much better — than that.

This once greatly-anticipated season is hanging by a thread  — and a worn one at that. So, then, Browns, what are you going to do about it?