NFL After losing three games in row, the Browns approach crossroads

Cleveland needs a win Sunday to begin turning around a losing season.
BEREA (AP) -- Cleveland Browns fans already have started discussing whom the team should draft next year.
Three straight losses will do that.
A 41-20 loss to Kansas City on Sunday dropped the Browns to 3-6, their lowest mark in three seasons under coach Butch Davis.
The reality is that the Browns likely will miss the playoffs, taking a step backward after reaching them last season for the first time since the franchise returned to the league in 1999.
Mathematically, it's impossible to write the Browns off. They remain just two games back in the weak AFC North and have seven games remaining.
"We're not out of it," safety Robert Griffith said. "Everybody wants to roll us over for dead and we're not."
Dominated by Chiefs
A season after losing to Kansas City by a point because of Dwayne Rudd's thrown helmet, the Chiefs defeated the Browns on Sunday in every aspect.
The Browns' suspension of running back William Green for his arrest on drunken driving and marijuana possession, and the benching of wide receiver Kevin Johnson in favor of Andre' Davis, has had little effect on the Browns' offense.
Butch Davis said he was thinking that if they could score 24 points, the Browns could win. The Browns' normally reliable defense allowed a season-high 41 points.
Their defense failed to stop the Chiefs on third down, allowing them to convert 12-for-16, Kansas City's highest percentage since the NFL began tracking the statistic in 1972.
The Browns, meanwhile, were 3-for-11 on third down and are 8-of-39 over the last three games.
Lacking in first downs
Davis said they are failing to convert first downs even in situations where they set themselves up with just 3, 4 or 5 yards to go.
"We should make those," Davis said.
Too often the Browns throw short of the first-down marker on third down and come up short by a yard or 2.
Butch Davis said he's unhappy with the record, but still thinks the Browns are moving in the right direction.
"We've got a plan. We're going to succeed. This team is going to be good," the coach said. "It's a challenge and there's some tough times right now. It's a struggle to try to get a win."
Team needs a win
Griffith said that win must come this Sunday.
"We're going to go out there this week. We're going to play Arizona. We're going to beat them and we'll go on from there," Griffith said.
Griffith made it clear that he wasn't guaranteeing a win.
A home win has been anything but a guarantee for the Browns since their return to the league. They're 1-3 there this season, but have home games coming up against sub-.500 teams Arizona and Pittsburgh.
"We have to get on a roll. We have to win consecutive games," Griffith said. "We're running out of our, uh ..."
"Mulligans," a reporter helped.
"I'm not a golfer," Griffith said. "So, we're down to where we need to put a string of wins together and we need to start this week."