CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Browns have been through more than their fair share of quarterback issues the past however many years.
But these issues usually arrive late in the season, when attrition and struggles add up.
This season has turned into a pure calamity at the position for the Browns, and it is not even to the halfway point. In Sunday's 33-13 loss to the New England Patriots, the Browns lost their third starting quarterback of the season during a game.
They point to Week 6 with the very real possibility of a fourth quarterback starting a game. Robert Griffin III lasted one game, as did Josh McCown. Rookie Cody Kessler started three before leaving Sunday with rib and chest injuries courtesy of Dont'a Hightower.
"He is going to be day to day," Browns coach Hue Jackson said. "We will find out more about him as we go through the week."
Kessler said he would do all he could to get back, but he seemed to be in pain as he stood and spoke with the media. He said the plan was for the training staff to check on him Sunday night to see how he was doing. If necessary, an MRI would be conducted Monday. The good news: There was no injury to his shoulder, and X-rays showed nothing broken. So there is a chance he can play in Tennessee.
"My goal is to come back as fast as possible," Kessler said. "I'll know more in the next couple days and just see how it feels and stay on top of it and get treatment. My goal is to get healthy really fast."
Terrelle Pryor took the first two snaps with Kessler out, but Jackson said that was because the team had practiced the plays Pryor ran while backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst got maybe two reps per practice.
Whitehurst said that's simply the job of the backup. Though Tom Brady made sure the Browns were never really in the game, the more Whitehurst played the more comfortable he looked. He finished with a touchdown and 182 yards passing but suffered a left knee injury in the fourth quarter.
How does the situation stack up? Kessler looks iffy. Whitehurst looks possible, but a knee injury can flare up.
Coaches often draw eye rolls when they say a player is day to day, but for this position and this team the situation truly is so.
The Browns won't want to start Pryor. He'd do it and they would do it, but his growth as a receiver would be slowed by every game he starts at quarterback.
They also won't want to bring Kevin Hogan off of the practice squad to start, or start someone off the street.
One outside chance would be to hope Josh McCown is recovered from a fractured left collarbone, but that injury typically takes a minimum of six weeks to heal. McCown was hurt Sept, 18; expecting him to recover that quickly seems unrealistic.
Clearly, the preference would be to use Whitehurst. He's in his eighth season and has started in Seattle and Tennessee -- though he's 2-7 as a starter.
In their troubled quarterback history, the Browns have only started four quarterbacks once in a season since 1999. That happened in 2008, when Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson were hurt, Ken Dorsey started Games 13, 14 and 15 and Bruce Gradkowski came in for 16.
The Browns may start No. 4 in Game 6.
This from the Elias Sports Bureau: Aside from the tumult of the strike-shortened season in 1987, the last time a team started four quarterbacks in six games was 1968 when the Denver Broncos did it with Jim LeClair, John McCormick, Marlin Briscoe and Steve Tensi.
That would be 48 years ago.