Editor's note: Tony Grossi covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN 850 WKNR.

The panacea for this Browns’ season may not be a coaching change. What they need is a trip to Lourdes to heal thy selves.

Whatever small gains the Browns made on offense as a result of the coaching firings – and Baker Mayfield thought there were a few – were given back on defense when they lost three more starters while watching the Kansas City Chiefs play pitch and catch.

The Chiefs put up 34 points through three quarters and coasted to a 37-21 win that was as carefree as a Saturday morning walk-through.

Northeast Ohio prep stars Kareem Hunt and Travis Kelce accounted for all five of their touchdowns. And Patrick Mahomes upped his season total to 29 passing touchdowns with three in easily winning his first professional duel with college rival Mayfield.

The Browns (2-6-1) went into the game without three starters on defense, and then lost cornerback Denzel Ward (hip), cornerback E.J. Gaines (concussion) and linebacker Christian Kirksey (hamstring).

Severity of the injuries won’t be known until later this week. Safe to say, a fragile roster weakening by the week does not portend well for the final seven games under interim head coach Gregg Williams.

“It sucks,” receiver Jarvis Landry said of the injuries. “Guys stepped in and did their best and tried to make plays.”

The Chiefs (8-1) held their position as the league’s highest-scoring team, racking up 499 yards, and averaging 8.6 yards per play and 5.8 on the ground.

The fact that the man who assembled those offensive stars – John Dorsey – is now in charge of Browns player acquisitions and perhaps the next coaching hire bodes well for the future.

“Absolutely,” Mayfield said. “We believe in what he is doing. We believe in the guys that he has brought in here and everything they are about. It is about building culture. That is where it starts.

“He established a culture there. He brought in the right pieces. You have to get people to believe in that. It doesn't matter who you have if you have that fixed, then you can go a long way. We are working on that. Like I said earlier, we have to keep getting better.”

Until then, Mayfield was pleased with the changes implemented by Freddie Kitchens in place of fired coordinator Todd Haley.

“I think there was a lot more good in this game than we had in the past,” said Mayfield, who completed 29 of 42 for 297 yards and two touchdowns.

“I think there is a lot to build on, but there is obviously so much more room for improvement. When you are playing a team like that, you have to stay in the game. You have to give yourself chances. You have to do the little things right. You have to chip away, take time off of the clock just because of the offense that they have. There was a lot of good on offense, but we just have to keep getting better.”

Kitchens implemented more rollouts and bootlegs for Mayfiled, wrote Duke Johnson more into the game plan (nine of nine receiving targets for 78 yards and two touchdowns), committed to running back Nick Chubb (85 yards and one TD on 22 rushes), and created a bigger role for receiver Brashad Perriman (two runs for 9 yards, and two catches for 36 yards on six passing targets).

Williams was also aggressive in going for it four times on fourth down (converting three, counting a Kansas City offsides) and trying two-point conversions after each of the three touchdowns (missing every time).

Trying to keep up with the Chiefs had a lot to do with that.

“It was good to see our team respond,” Williams said. “We wanted to see our team respond and wanted to see Baker respond, and he did a really good job with that and how he lead us in those situations. He did a good job.”

Mayfield led three scoring drives out of four possessions in the first half. A late drive at the end of the half cut the Chiefs lead to 21-15. But that’s as close as it got.

Overall, Williams and Kitchens were able to avoid disaster in a very hectic week – save for the injuries, which were out of their control.

“It felt like people were a little more confident,” opined defensive end Myles Garrett (one sack, three hits on Mahomes). “He was going for it every time. He’s just trying to build a different atmosphere around here, and people are liking it.”

Not everyone was satisfied, however.

“We lost. What steps did we take?” asked Landry. “Did we win? Then it doesn’t matter.”