A 21-14 loss to the Hurricanes in Wellington on Saturday night took the Highlanders to 0-3, their worst start to Super Rugby since the horror eight-loss run to open the 2013 season.
The search for a win will not get any easier, as a star-studded Blues team awaits in Auckland on Friday night.
It has been a tough draw to start the season, and the road will become easier for the Highlanders when transtasman games begin.
Brown said despite that, the team needed to find a way to improve its performance.
"It’s obviously frustrating. We haven’t got our mojo and we’re not playing good rugby, so we’ve got to fix that quickly.
"We’ve got a short turnaround this week and we play a pretty good Blues team. We’ve got to get straight back into it on Monday and prepare to win, and prepare to play better than we have been."
A major issue for the Highlanders has been execution in attacking zones.
They have scored just four tries in three games, and have been making mistakes to let other teams off the hook.
Those failings were on display in a frustrating performance in Wellington.
The Highlanders set a solid platform, had most of the ball and played the majority of the game at the right end of the field.
There are no prizes for winning the possession and territory battles, though.
Ultimately, the plethora of basic mistakes that led to the loss to the Hurricanes was far more telling, and Brown identified errors as the team’s undoing.
"It was just hugely disappointing.
"We had 21 turnovers in 80 minutes of rugby. That’s just not good enough at this level.
"Especially when we dominated possession, dominated territory, dominated set piece — just not being able to get across the line was hugely frustrating."
The Highlanders produced plenty of effort in Wellington and there was no real issue with their tactical approach.
It was just the basic skills that went missing.
Too often, balls were dropped, bad passes were thrown or needless penalties were conceded, and that regularly happened when the Highlanders were within striking range.
That is not the sort of thing that can be fixed as easily as a tactical issue — the players just have to be better.
Brown said he felt the team had been forcing things too much.
"I just think it’s everyone just trusting themselves and trusting the plans and trusting their game.
"I think at the moment we’re just trying to force everything. Especially when we get into that 22m, 5m out, we’re not quite nailing our skill set and finishing off opportunities that we’re creating."
Defensively, several one-off missed tackles had cost the Highlanders as well.
"The Hurricanes are a good team and they’ve got some X-factor players," Brown said.
"It felt as though a couple of their tries were pretty soft there tonight."
The Highlanders stay rooted to the bottom third of the table — they are 10th with a single competition point and a points differential of minus 32.
One place higher is the Fijian Drua, which posted its inaugural win by beating the Rebels 31-26 on the Sunshine Coast on Friday night.
The Blues got their first win by pipping the Chiefs 24-22 at Eden Park, though their relief was tempered by news star recruit Roger Tuivasa-Sheck had suffered a serious shoulder injury.
The Reds beat the Force 29-16, and the Brumbies beat the Waratahs 27-20.
