Browns vs. Cowboys: Cleveland loss a 'punch in the gut'

Unfortunately for Cleveland Browns fans, the team's 2012 season has been marked by one characteristic: an inability to win close games. The Browns lost by another thin margin on Sunday to the Dallas Cowboys, falling 23-20 in overtime -- a loss that Chris Pokorny of SB Nation's Browns blog Dawgs By Nature called "a punch in the gut." Pokorny also lamented what has become the Browns reputations this season.

There are a lot of talking points we could make about this game, which I will get into throughout the week. The big bummer is that we lost another close game, something that has become the reputation of the 2012 Browns.

(via Dawgs By Nature)

The good news for the Browns moving forward is that the team's schedule softens in the upcoming weeks. Next Sunday, Cleveland will face a Pittsburgh Steelers team without Ben Roethlisberger and with backup Byron Leftwich also nursing a rib injury that plagued him throughout Week 11. Then the Browns travel to face the Oakland Raiders and host the Kansas City Chiefs, two winnable games.

For head coach Pat Shurmur, though, that might not be enough to save his job. If he is indeed fired at the end of the season, he and Browns fans will look back on all the team's close losses from this season, with Sunday's loss to the Cowboys as the punctuation.