Variety is the major consideration. Short ears that were supposed to be long ears are usually due to stress, water (most important) and N. Sometimes high temps when the ears are forming. OP sweet corn has a very short harvest window, Su and Se hybrids slightly longer and supersweets hold the longest. OP's only have a couple days from peak to almost inedible. A super sweet may hold for a week or slightly more. Corn freezes well.

Thanks for the reply, Farmer Dill. I can't imagine what would have stressed my corn. I fertilized heavily before planting, fertilized fairly frequently using nitrogen-rich urine, and gave it plenty of water regularly on timed drip lines. Temperatures, while warm for this time of year (90s during much of the growing time), are hardly what they'd have been if I had planted in the peak of the summer heat. So I'm not sure why they'd be stressed. The variety, by the way, is Silver Princess. Not sure where they fall on the sweetness scale

Wow, that's not a long shelf life. I better get on to harvesting!

Silver Princess is an excellent second early Se. Notice that I do not crowd it which is another source of stress. It is not a huge corn, normally 7-8 inch ears.

I find that corn (I grow Ambrosia variety) has a 3 day window for peak of perfection picking for fresh eating. It's very tender and sweet during this stage without getting starchy and tough when left on the stalk for too long. The lower ears are almost always a little smaller than the top ears which is normal. Freezing what you can't eat fresh is the way to go and ears will keep ok in the fridge for a max of one week for eating off the cob before losing quality.