There are ways to put losses into context.
On Sunday in Oakland, the Cleveland Browns lost a game in historic fashion.
The Browns scored 42 points in losing 45-42 to the Raiders. That’s their highest point total since Derek Anderson replaced Charlie Frye for the second game of the 2007 season and helped the Browns score 51 points in a win over Cincinnati.
The Browns also had four turnovers -- while scoring more than 40 points. Those two stats are incongruous, but they happened. The Browns turned the ball over four times but managed to score 42 points.
And they lost.
Here are ways to put that game in perspective, all courtesy of the “game finder” search on ProFootballReference.com:
Since the 2000 season, NFL teams have scored 42 or more points in a game 323 times. Only four times did those teams lose. Teams are 319-4 when scoring 42 points, and the Browns on Sunday became one of the four.
Since the Browns entered the NFL in 1950, they have scored 42 or more in a game 40 times. They won 38 of them. In 2004, they lost a game to the Bengals 58-48.
Most coaches will lament every day to Sunday that four turnovers will lose a game. But the numbers show that scoring a lot of points offsets turnovers -- except for the Browns in Oakland. Since 1940, teams have scored 42 points and had four turnovers in a game 100 times. Ninety-four of those teams won, one tied, and five lost. The Browns on Sunday are one of the five.
Finally, the Browns led by 14 late in the third quarter and by seven when the third quarter ended. That was the first time in Browns history that they lost a game after they scored 42 points and led by at least seven after three quarters.
In some quarters, these would be statistical quirks. In Cleveland, they’re trends. Year after year, the Browns reach more of these “hardly ever” stats. Instead of finding ways to win, the Browns find ways to lose.
The Browns scored 42 points. They had four plays longer than 40 yards; three went for touchdowns and one set up a fourth. They led by 14 in the fourth quarter and by eight with a minute left.
Yet they lost.
The angry and frustrated will point to officiating, saying Carlos Hyde’s fourth-quarter run that looked and felt like a first down should not have been overturned. The angry and frustrated would be correct. However, the defense had several plays to stop the Raiders' offense and to negate a two-point conversion. There were 164 plays in that game; to think that one decided it when the Browns did so much to hurt themselves is silly.
Good teams shrug off calls and minimize pratfalls. They find ways to win.
The Browns found a way to lose. Until they get over this hump, they will continue to be the object of derision and ridicule.
The Browns have to find a way to win that game. They might not win a lot of games this season, but it is important that they win the games they should win.
Especially if they want to start getting better.