LONDON -- Hue Jackson said the Cleveland Browns have to be "perfect" to win a game this season. That's an interesting admission from a coach whose team is 0-8.

But embedded in that statement, perhaps, is the idea that Jackson's roster simply is not capable of winning in the NFL. This team is so devoid of talent that it celebrates when it competes for a half.

"Everything has to be perfect," Jackson said after the 33-16 loss to the Minnesota Vikings in venerable old Twickenham Stadium, home of the English national rugby team. "I think that's where we are."

It is exactly where they are.

Sunday with DeShone Kizer at quarterback and with tackle Joe Thomas out because of a torn triceps, Jackson turned to the most close-to-the vest game plan imaginable. He had Kizer throwing largely short, he depended on his defense and he hoped for a big play here and there.

In the first half it worked, as Isaiah Crowell broke free for a touchdown on the Browns' second offensive play, and then Kizer evaded a rush to flip the ball to Crowell for a 38-yard gain that set up the Browns' second touchdown. Meanwhile, the defense was fighting.

But in the second half, Crowell fumbled, the defense broke down after being on the field for 20 minutes in the first half and Zane Gonzalez added to a missed extra point with a missed field goal attempt. The Browns also lamented non-calls by officials and in the end collapsed under the imperfections.

Even the most conservative game plan wasn't good enough.

"I think everything has got to be perfect for us to have a chance to win a football game," Jackson said. "That's just where we are as a football team. We get it, and our coaching staff gets it, and our players get it, and we work that way. We try to do the best we can to get everything right, but we all know that's not how football is played.

"You can't be perfect. It's still a game."

Everything he said is correct.

The Browns have to be perfect, and they have to do so with imperfections across the roster. From the NFL's youngest quarterback trying to learn as he goes, to a receiving group that is lacking, to a pair of corners deemed worthy of replacing Joe Haden but who are not top-tier corners.

Then there's Kenny Britt, the favored-by-analytics signing in the offseason designed to replace Terrelle Pryor. Britt was not on the field Sunday for a single play. He has become a lightning rod for criticism for the 0-8 record and for the new style of player acquisition.

Last offseason, the only positives about Britt coming off his first 1,000-yard season in eight came from analytics, but anyone with the slightest bit of institutional knowledge of the league and Britt would not have given him a $34 million deal.

The Browns did -- and Jackson is the coach who decides whether Britt plays or doesn't.

The same happened with the Brock Osweiler trade, as the Browns were willing to pay someone $16 million to acquire a draft pick, then have said player show during camp and preseason why he was dealt one year after signing a lucrative free-agent deal with his former team.

The Browns are loaded with draft picks in 2018, but that's zero help to this season's team.

Jackson also has to answer the daily questions about the roster and how players are playing. He has made decisions that have been questioned, and stuck by his beliefs in explaining them. At times Jackson's moves are head-scratching, but when he explains himself it goes back to old-school football fundamentals. He's not the first and won't be the last coach to be second-guessed.

What he can't do anything about are personnel decisions, because the draft and 53-man roster are decided by vice president of football operations Sashi Brown. Director of strategy Paul DePodesta -- a guy big on analytics when he worked in baseball -- has a nebulous, hard-to-define position that is part of the team's management structure.

The team talks about unity and how well folks work together, but Jackson the coach is trying to win with a roster that is simply not suited to win in the NFL.

Not even the best teams are perfect. And this team is a long, long way from being competitive, much less among the best.

"You're going to make mistakes, and things are going to come up, but that's where we are so that's what we have to do every time we play to give ourselves the best chance to win games," Jackson said. "[Sunday] we didn't make as many, so we were in the game for quite a while. Then all of a sudden we don't make some other plays I think we can make, and then the game flipped.

"That's kind of been the story of where we are."

And will be for the rest of this season.