Former Cleveland Browns Great Bernie Kosar Sounds Foolish Blasting Front Office

Since his time with the Cleveland Browns ended back in 1992, former quarterback Bernie Kosar has been beloved by the city and organization. He had always retained some sort of connection to the Browns and even held a position as TV analyst up until this season. His exodus from the team must have really gotten to him because Bernie blasted the organization on Monday.

During an interview with Mike Trivisonno on WTAM 1100 AM in Cleveland, Kosar took out the sledgehammer and let the team have it. This wouldn’t have even been news had he blasted the play of quarterback Johnny Manziel, the play-calling of Kyle Shanahan or even head coach Mike Pettine’s decision to play the rookie. Everyone was doing that after a 30-0 embarrassment at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals.

The reason Kosar’s comments made waves were because he laid no blame on any of those men. No, instead he blamed…management?

“When you have a front office that is really uneducated…and I’m not talking about just a coach,” Kosar said. “It’s way above him that deserves this. They don’t know how to lead and organize and set a culture for playing what you have to do to play wining football.”

When pressed further Kosar protected Pettine.

“He was hired under these set of rules where everybody gets to giggle and laugh and talk about things,” said Kosar. “And everybody is involved in everything. He was hired in a tough, tough spot in a culture above him that is not a football culture. It’s not a winning football culture.”

I had to listen to that comment three times to fully grasp just how absurd it really was. Pettine, who was not hired by general manager Ray Farmer but by his predecessors, is in no way responsible for his players having a “loosey goosey” attitude but the guys wearing the suits who have no contact with them are?

I’m not sure a criticism of Pettine is fair in that regard either way, but if that was the door Kosar wanted to walk through then he should probably use the door knob right in front of him. Anyone who knows anything about how an organization works knows  Pettine and his staff are the only people in the building who can allow or disallow how players act on Sunday or any other day for that matter.

The timing of all this is questionable too. Kosar does radio hits in Cleveland every week and this has never once come out on air. Now, after the team has been riddled with injuries, was forced to switch quarterbacks and has lost four of its last five games he speaks out. It wasn’t even the switch to Manziel that prompted this ire either. He actually defended the move.

“I’ve been talking all year about how limited I think we are with our weapons offensively,” Kosar said. “It is somewhat a tough spot for Johnny to have to play in that given this team and given this organization. It was just a complete recipe for disaster.”

So then it wasn’t the quarterback’s fault, who obviously was overwhelmed and admitted he played terribly. Nevermind the fact he finished with 80 passing yards, two interceptions and a 27.3 quarterback rating; it was definitely the front office’s doing.

This is nothing more than a classic case of sour grapes. Get out the cheese because Bernie is pouring on the whine by the barrel. Let’s recap: The quarterback and coach are not to blame and Pettine was “hired into this.” That means it’s not Farmer’s fault either because he didn’t hire Pettine or he wasn’t general manger when it happened either. That means his gripe could only be with the only two guys above that spot: President Alec Scheiner and owner Jimmy Haslam.

Neither of those guys have any influence on what happens on Sunday. Scheiner is a business head and focuses on marketing the majority of his time. Haslam has been known to meddle but what could he have possibly done this season? The only move Haslam would have made was to issue the decree to start Manziel, but Bernie said he had no problem with that move.

No, this has much more to do with the fact the Browns removed Bernie from the preseason broadcast booth this season. Bernie was unhappy with the decision at the time but how could he complain? The Browns had just made a huge splash in the draft and would go on to have the most successful season the team had seen in seven years.

Until now.

At the time of the move Bernie issued a statement explaining his displeasure with the decision.

“I believe that this decision stems from my slurred speech impairment, which is a direct result of the many concussions I received while playing in the NFL,” Kosar said in a statement. “This is very unfortunate, as I believe my football acumen and ability to describe what is happening on the field, has been well received by Cleveland Browns fans.”

Mark Duncan/Associated Press

Browns president Alec Scheiner also issued a statement through ClevelandBrowns.com where said Bernie would not disappear completely.

"We welcome Solomon and are excited to look further into additional opportunities to continue to engage Bernie with our fans. We want Browns fans to look forward to seeing and hearing his continued contributions and analysis on not only our preseason telecasts, but also our radio network and ClevelandBrowns.com."

That has not been the case, however. Bernie no longer does hits on the Cleveland Browns radio network and is not a part of their multiple television shows either. He is no longer a part of the Browns sanctioned coverage and it obviously bothers him to no end.

How can he blame Sunday’s loss on the culture of an organization filled with people who have been here less than three years? Literally the entire building has been turned over in the past three years and yet this “culture” he speaks about still exists? I would just like to point out that those people who have showed up in the last three years have brought winning football back to Cleveland.

So now that the team is officially out of the playoffs Bernie found his moment to jump on the pile. He knows the fans will have his back. They always have and they always will. Fan is short for fanatic, and Bernie brought the Browns their best years outside of the dynasties in the '50s and '60s.

According to Dictionary.com, the definition of fanatic is "a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal." So by nature Browns fans will remain uncritical of Bernie’s comments. I, on the other hand, will not. It is one thing to point out real problems within an organization, but it is a totally different thing to talk in circles and conjure up reasons to take shots at front office that doesn’t want you around anymore.

If Bernie has issue with the team separating itself from him then maybe he should look in the mirror. His own actions—from trashing players during broadcasts to a DUI charge last offseason—are why they chose to part ways with his services.

I, for one, would like to remember Bernie as the Ohio kid who led the team he loved to the AFC Championship Game three different times, not as the bitter old man airing out his laundry on local sports talk radio.

All quotes and observations were acquired first hand unless otherwise noted.