This season was never going to be necessarily about the Browns winning a lot of games.

 

But at the same time, the season was also never going to be necessarily about the Browns getting embarrassed, humiliated and thoroughly dominated in a lot of games, especially at home.

 

There have been no wins for the Browns thus far in 2017.

 

But there have been three instances – all in a row – about them getting embarrassed, humiliated and thoroughly dominated to some degree. And it bottomed out on Sunday with a 31-7 loss at home to the Cincinnati Bengals.

 

It was not just the Browns’ worst loss of this year, but, with everything considered, the worst loss they have had in Hue Jackson’s first 20 games as head coach dating back to the start of the 2016 season.

 

Everybody thought the Browns, after finishing 1-15 a year ago, were done with the “junior varsity-versus-the varsity” types of games. And maybe they are, for Sunday’s game seemed more like the freshmen team against the varsity. It was that one-sided.

 

Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton, who had been miserable in the first three games of the year, played pitch-and-catch with his receivers as if he were auditioning for a spot on the pitching staff of the Cincinnati Reds. And the Reds, considering their horrible state right now, could sure use that kind of pinpoint accuracy.

 

All that is obvious. What is not so obvious – or obvious at all, really – is why it happened.

 

After giving the Pittsburgh Steelers, unquestionably the team to beat in the AFC North, all they could handle in a 21-18 loss in the opener that went right down to the final gun, the Browns have gotten steadily worse in starting 0-4. This is not what a young team is supposed to do. The more experience it gets, the better it should be. That the opposite is occurring is troubling.

 

Jackson said in his post-game press conference on Sunday that neither he nor anyone else in the Cleveland locker room he had just left is “discouraged,” but rather just “disappointed.” For his sake, his team’s sake and that of the fans, let’s hope he’s right, because if the Browns are discouraged after just four games, or one-fourth of the season – and the players looked pretty downtrodden as the final seconds ticked down in the loss to the Bengals – then they are in serious, serious trouble.

 

Jackson was asked about the fans leaving early on Sunday, and said if he were a fan, he probably would have left before it was over, too. He said it pains him to see that.

 

Those are honest, heartfelt, “I get what the fans are going through” types of comments, which is something you rarely see from NFL head coaches, for whom coach-speak, in which they say absolutely nothing, is the only language they seem to know.

 

Jackson is real. He’s a good guy. For those reasons alone, you’ve got to hope he succeeds here. And while these types of losses shouldn’t put his job in any type of jeopardy – and won’t — it’s still a horribly bad look. If it continues, then it will put him and the Browns hierarchy under even more pressure and scrutiny heading into the offseason, especially with yet another report last week that there is a rift between the front office and the coaching staff. As bad as the losses are, those reports are even worse because of the damage they do in eating away at the all-on-the-same-page” type of feeling a franchise must have in order to have any chance to be successful.

 

The Browns have another home game next Sunday against the New York Jets, who improved to 2-2 with a 23-20 overtime victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday. That can be a plus in that it gives the Browns a chance to redeem themselves in front of their fans.

 

Or it can be a curse if they further alienate those fans with another stinker of a performance.