Eric Mangini: Dead Man Walking?

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The Browns' 30-6 blowout loss to the Bears could end up being remembered for one thing. It was the day owner Randy Lerner decided to finally take responsibility for the mess he created.

And a mess it is. Head coach Eric Mangini stated he was going to evaluate “every player, every position” in the bye week, including the coaching staff. Also, Jamal Lewis announced his retirement, effective at the end of the season.

Lerner reportedly stood in the tunnel outside the locker room and gave a “staredown” to every player and coach as they came off the field at halftime.

While Lerner said he wasn’t going to fire Mangini this week, he did say he wants to bring somebody with a strong football background to fix the disaster that has become the 2009 Cleveland Browns season.

Specifically, Lerner said he wants someone who is a “strong, credible, serious leader within the building to guide decisions in a far more conspicuous, transparent way. I can maybe defend decisions by saying I've sought advice and I've brought people in, and we've gone to see people, and I think my highest priority is to have a stable figure that represents the voice that explains the decisions.”

This sounds like he wants a person to do what Bill Parcells is doing in Miami.

So while Mangini’s job is safe this week, don’t expect Mangini to still be sitting in his office in Berea come January. Any high-level football executive Lerner brings in will probably fire Mangini anyway. Mangini is in a situation similar to Cam Cameron in Miami a few years ago.

Cam Cameron also inherited a very bad team in Miami, and they finished 1-15. Parcells came into the picture during the season and Cameron stayed, but only until the refs blew the final whistle in the last week of the season.

Mangini has done nothing this year on the field to warrant keeping his job. You can debate his off-field moves all you want, but he has been a miserable failure at the job he was actually hired for—coaching the team.

The team’s performance and the win-loss record do not lie in that respect.

Running down the various aspects of the team that have failed since Mangini took over the reins of power, one finds the list is long and distinguished.

Eric Mangini

Not to sound like a broken record, but Mangini promised better, smarter football. The team, instead, has played even worse than last year. The coaching, especially on offense, makes last year’s debacle look like better, smarter football.

Lerner hired Mangini about five minutes after New York fired him with very little done in the way of due diligence. Mangini immediately cleaned house in the front office, and other credible candidates for the general manager’s position pulled out upon Mangini’s hiring.

George Kokinis was hired to fill the GM position per Mangini's recommendation, but it seems not even Lerner knows what Kokinis does with his day because Mangini always seems to be the one filling that role.

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