Even the presence of wide receiver Josh Gordon and a lot of Southern California Browns Backers couldn’t bail out the Browns on Sunday in Los Angeles.

They still did what they’ve been doing all year – that is, lose. This time it was the Chargers doing it to the Browns, 19-10, to drop them to 0-12. Now they’re just four games away from going through the entire season winless.

The Browns also did something they’ve done in just about every game not only this season, or the last two seasons, the last five seasons, the last 10 seasons, the last 15 seasons or the last nearly two decades since they returned to the field in 1999.

And that it is failing to score many points.

In the NFL, where scoring is so prevalent and thus so important, and where every rule change in the last 40 years has been to give something to the offense and take something away from the defense, a team that can’t put up a healthy total of points has virtually no chance to win.

The Browns played pretty well defensively. Yes, they gave up a ton of yards to a potent Chargers offense led by a great quarterback in Philip Rivers. But the Browns allowed them to score only one touchdown, which kept them in the game almost to the very end.

But the Browns didn’t do nearly enough offensively.

There are a lot of reasons for that, but the biggest is the one that has been there since the beginning of the expansion era, and that is a lack of outstanding quarterback play. Rookie DeShone Kizer, the latest guy trying out for the job, and trying to break this ugly, seemingly endless streak of not being productive at the most important position in team sports, was outstanding at times against the Chargers. But he didn’t do it consistently.

His youth? His inexperience? Inaccuracy with his throws? A lack of talent around him?

Sure, all those things played a part, but for the Browns to begin winning, he – or someone else playing quarterback – has to find a way to do it. Nothing changes until that does.

You’ve heard that before – hundreds of times. And you’re hearing it again.

Do your ears hurt yet?