GLENDALE, Arizona -- Sunday mornings, as they often do with the Browns, started with a national report about the team. This time, it didn’t point at some glaring dysfunction or unrest. It was Ian Rapoport reporting the Browns standing by Freddie Kitchens as their coach barring, as Rapoport put it, “a horrific collapse or circumstance to end the season.”

Right on cue, the Browns lost to the Cardinals, 38-24. It was just the fourth win of the season for Arizona. It left the Browns’ elimination from the playoffs a mere formality, even after the Steelers lost to the Bills.

Their starting tight end, David Njoku, was inactive because of a coaching decision. Their star wide receiver, Jarvis Landry, got into a sideline spat with his head coach. Landry said repeatedly after the game, “I just went and asked for the ball.”

“We pretty much laid an egg today,” left guard Joel Bitonio said. “That's not something you want to do when you're fighting for your playoff hopes.”

Kliff Kingsbury, the coach people couldn’t believe got an NFL head coaching job, put on a clinic as a playcaller on Sunday. His Cardinals offense put up 445 yards and his handpicked quarterback threw for 219 yards and ran for another 56 while Kenyon Drake chewed up 137 yards on the ground and scored four touchdowns.

The Cardinals controlled the pace and ran a cohesive offense. The Browns defense struggled in all areas as the loss of their two starting ends was felt every time a runner made his way around the edge.

Offensively, when the Browns weren’t handing off to Nick Chubb, it was hard to know what they were doing, which you’ve read here before. Baker Mayfield struggled again, Odell Beckham Jr. was a non-factor and the shovel passes, for some reason, continued.

The Browns now have to ask themselves a whole bunch of uncomfortable questions, and it starts with the man they decided to put in charge of this.

Freddie Kitchens had never been an offensive coordinator before the Browns gave him the promotion last season after firing Hue Jackson and Todd Haley. He had never had serious consideration as a head coaching candidate until the Browns hired him to be theirs in January.

Too often, it has looked like it.

Baker Mayfield’s regression in his second season is alarming, which brings up another question: Is it because of Mayfield or is it because of the coaching? Kitchens was hired, in part, because of his relationship with Mayfield and how the quarterback and playcaller worked when the Browns went 5-3 to finish 2018.

Whatever chemistry existed between the two is a distant memory. The Browns cannot bring Kitchens back if there’s any chance he’s a reason for Mayfield’s regression. The young quarterback’s growth is of the utmost importance and can’t be compromised just so you can claim continuity. Kitchens is very painfully learning on the job and his learning curve can’t delay Mayfield’s development during these valuable early years of his career.

With 2019 all but done, 2020 becomes one of the most important years in recent Browns history. There will be no room for excuses. There will be no room for learning curves and culture changes. The Browns have to start winning.

The Browns locker room felt like a morgue again on Sunday after the game. The only positive spin is at least this time it was after a loss as opposed to a win, as has been the case more than once in the last month-and-a-half. The weight of a wasted season hung over the room.

Everything went the Browns way on Sunday in the playoff picture except for the Browns holding up their end of the bargain and beating a 3-win team on a six-game losing streak. Does this loss qualify as a horrific collapse or circumstance to end the season?

If it doesn’t, it gets us a whole lot closer to whatever does.