Written by Thomas Moore

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Another week and another loss for the "battling" Cleveland Browns.

For the fifth time this season, the Browns lost by seven points or less. That's certainly better than 2009 and 2010, when Cleveland was losing games by 31 points, 28 points, 24 points and 32 points.

But does close really matter when you are 2-8? Are these close games a sign of a team that is (slowly) maturing? Or are they a team that can make just enough plays to stay close but can never make the play to win?

"It’ll sound cliché, (but) you have to do it," coach Pat Shurmur said following the loss to Dallas. "I think every game is a different story. We get ahead in this one, we get behind and we get back ahead. We just have to do it. We talk about finishing all the time. We talk about starting fast. We talk about fighting throughout. We talk about finishing. We do that all the time.”

So when do you start talking about winning? More importantly, when do you actually start winning?

"We’ve just got to find a way to finish," Shurmur said. "We have a whole locker room full of winners. This whole organization is full of winners, we’ve just got to put it all together and do it.”

Maybe as a fan we are too close to the situation and, after years of being beaten down, can't see the good in all this. That would explain why we were so surprised by the take the Tim Ryan and Pat Kirwan had on their Sirius NFL Radio show on Monday afternoon.

Ryan and Kirwan were talking up the job that Shurmur has done with the Browns, saying that it would not be right if Shurmur was let go after just two seasons on the job (debatable, but defendable, we suppose).

It was the next part that had us wondering if we were hearing things, as the radio duo said if the Browns let Shurmur go he would be snapped up by another team in an instant. Then, after developing a quarterback at his new team for a couple of years, Shurmur would be back on an NFL sideline as a head coach.

Makes us wonder if they are seeing something that has eluded Browns fans for the past 26 games (or if Kirwan and Ryan are watching the same games we are). And where is that quarterback development in regards to Brandon Weeden?

Speaking of Weeden, who is 31st in both completion percentage (55.3) and passer rating (70.3), maybe he is the one holding the team back. At least that's the opinion of the folks at Pro Football Focus.

In their weekly refocus on the weekend's games, they lay the blame at Weeden's feet, writing that the Browns are "a quarterback away from being a good team" and "even a marginal signal caller would have them close to .500. "

Whoa. But, wait, there's more, as Neil Hornsby goes on to write:

"So Weeden ended up with a quarterback rating of 93.8 and nearly a comeback win. Color me hugely unimpressed. The reason we grade every player on every play is because it’s lucky, not good, when a dropped interception caroms off a cornerback for a 13-yard gain. Not content with that slice of fortune, he also had interceptions dropped by Anthony Spencer and Josh Price-Brent on throws that probably had his family calling for Colt McCoy.

"As with most poor (I nearly said rookie, but that would be unfair) quarterbacks, Weeden’s biggest nemesis is his short game. On throws between 0 and 9 yards, he was graded -5.1 of his overall -4.6 rating on targeted passes. His offensive line gave him so much time this really shouldn’t be an issue. But when he was pressured, he reacted so poorly he gave headless chickens a bad name."

Hard to argue with Hornsby on Weeden struggling with short throws and, sure, the Browns would be better with someone like Tom Brady at quarterback, and, yeah, the bar is pretty low for quarterback play in Cleveland, but is Weeden really that bad?

ESPN analyst, and former NFL quarterback, Ron Jaworksi doesn't think so.

“With a young quarterback, it’s all about becoming more consistent, and I’m seeing as the season progresses, he has gotten better,” Jaworski said. “So I think Weeden does have a future in Cleveland. He’s going to get excellent coaching. Now if he buys in, if he listens, he will continue to improve. And he has gotten better. You watch him this week. Were there some mistakes in the game against Dallas? Yes, but I thought he made some terrific throws as well.”

Again with the good coaching. What are we missing here? Is it simply that we have no appreciation for the art of the two-yard pass on third-and-four?

Even new CEO Joe Banner is getting seduced by the fact that the Browns are "keeping it close."

“You’re, I think, in a very profound way seeing a coaching staff able to keep everybody motivated, working hard, trying hard, which where the record is, is something that is a good indication of the coaching staff doing a good job with the players,” Banner said. “Those are the kinds of things you’re looking at, at this point.”

Yeah, but when do we get to start looking at wins?

We've never been one to want one of the local teams to fire a coach simply to make a change. After all, firing the coach is the easy part, finding a replacement that is actually better is hard.

And for all the coaching changes the Browns have made since 1999 you'd think they'd be a lot better at it. But the team has either had bad timing (if they had fired Romeo Crennel in 2007 after two years they would have had a chance at Mike Tomlin) or just looked in the wrong direction (Eric Mangini in 2009 without even calling Rex Ryan).

Maybe all the losing has finally fried our brains because we know what we see on Sundays and it doesn't align with what the national media is seeing.

The truth is out there somewhere, Browns fans, let's just hope that Banner and new owner Jimmy Haslam are getting the same game feed as we are.

(Photo by DallasCowboys.com)