CINCINNATI _ There's a reason a sling, bandages and a football jersey make a good Halloween costume for fans who want to dress as a Browns quarterback.
Injuries at the sport's most important position have crippled the Browns this season, and the trend continued when quarterback Cody Kessler was knocked out of their 31-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.
Fellow rookie Kevin Hogan filled in at quarterback for the Browns after Kessler suffered a concussion with 7:27 left in the second quarter.
Hogan, who spent the first five weeks of the season on the practice squad, became the sixth Browns player to appear at quarterback this season, including wide receiver Terrelle Pryor.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this is the first time a team in a non-strike year has had a six players throw a pass in the first seven games since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976.
The Bucs went 0-14 that year, and the Browns remain on a pathetic path of their own.
They are 0-7 for the first time since they began the 1999 season with the same record. They were an expansion team then and finished the season 2-14, the worst record in franchise history.
The Browns have lost their past 10 games and 17 of the last 18 dating back to the 2015 season. They haven't won since Dec. 13.
Kessler suffered a concussion when he collided with defensive tackle Domata Peko as defensive end Carlos Dunlap tackled him. He completed a shovel pass to tight end Gary Barnidge for an 11-yard gain on the second-and-13 play from the Bengals' 16-yard line.
Kessler had started the past five games and performed well. He went 9-of-11 passing for 82 yards with a rating of 97.7 before he exited the game. Two plays after he was hurt, the Browns seized a 10-7 lead when running back Isaiah Crowell rushed for a 1-yard touchdown with 6:20 left in the second quarter.
But the Browns went downhill in a hurry.
They fell behind 14-10 when quarterback Andy Dalton and wide receiver Brandon LaFell connected for a 44-yard touchdown with 4:09 left in the second quarter. LaFell beat cornerback Jamar Taylor and was wide open when he made the catch.
Then the Bengals (3-4) secured a 21-10 halftime lead when five-time Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J. Green tipped a Hail Mary pass from Dalton twice and grabbed it in a crowd for a 48-yard touchdown with time expired in the second quarter.
Of course, the Browns have been decimated by injuries across the board, not just at quarterback. Center Cameron Erving, who missed three games this season with a bruised lung, didn't play at all in the second half because of what the Browns announced was an illness.
In his regular-season NFL debut, Hogan completed 12-of-24 passes for 100 yards with two interceptions and a rating of 26.4. On the bright side, he proved he can be an effective runner at the highest level, rushing seven times for 104 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown that trimmed the Browns' deficit to 21-17 with 10:43 left in the third quarter.
The Bengals, though, never lost control and finished with 559 yards.
They bumped their lead up to 28-17 when running back Jeremy Hill broke loose for a 74-yard touchdown run with 9:47 left in the third quarter. Safety Ibraheim Campbell missed a tackle, allowing Hill to sprint away from the defense.
The Bengals tacked on a 36-yard field goal by Mike Nugent to gain a 31-17 advantage with 4:19 left in the third quarter.
The Bengals started the game by drawing blood with a seven-play, 75-yard scoring drive. Running back Giovani Bernard finished the march with a 5-yard rushing touchdown, which put the Browns in a 7-0 hole with 12:14 left in the first quarter.
The Bengals wasted an opportunity to extend their lead the next time they had the ball when Nugent missed a 40-yard field goal wide right with 3:42 left in the first quarter. Later, Nugent missed a 45-yard field goal when the ball hit the right upright with 7:12 left in the fourth quarter.
The Browns assembled a 10-play, 60-yard drive, capped by Cody Parkey's successful 28-yard field goal that trimmed the Bengals' lead to 7-3 with 13:26 left in the second quarter.
They took their only lead when Crowell finished their next possession with a touchdown. But for the most part, the rest of the game was another dud for the Browns.
The Browns marched to the Bengals' 21-yard line with two minutes left, but Hogan's pass on first down was tipped by Dunlap and intercepted by linebacker Vincent Rey to seal the outcome with 1:52 left.
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