"The Browns have only themselves to blame for the quandary at quarterback they face this off-season.

They didn't need to tank their season and lose more games to get a legitimate shot at Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, the consensus prize of the 2012 draft. They simply needed to take care of business on Nov. 13. On that day, the Browns lost to the St. Louis Rams, 13-12, on a series of late-game sideline and special-team blunders.

The game defined their season and muddled their immediate future.

Had the Browns not given away the game, St. Louis would have finished with a 1-15 record. They would have moved in front of the Indianapolis Colts (2-14) and "earned" the No. 1 pick.

Instead, the Colts held on to the No. 1 pick on a tiebreaker.

Colts owner Jim Irsay has made it clear that he intends to use the pick on Luck to provide a seamless transition from Peyton Manning, the face of the team since 1998 and whose career is in doubt as a result of uncertain recovery from a third neck surgery.

The Rams, however, have a different situation. They've invested millions of dollars and two seasons in developing quarterback Sam Bradford, who is only 24 and a surer thing, they believe, than Luck. Their intention was to trade the No. 1 pick and use the bounty from such a mega-trade to surround Bradford with offensive weapons.

"Ownership and management seem pretty clear on that," said Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "