Cleveland Browns: Six Reasons to Be Skeptical About the Current Regime

Most of the fans who call my radio show have suffered through years and years of inept football played by the Cleveland Browns.  I have resorted to calling the team the Cleveland Tans, a mere shadow of their former greatness. 

Over and over again, the leadership of the team, from GMs to head coaches, have told the fans we have to be patient because fixing the team takes time. 

But with the exception of a couple of fluke winning seasons, nothing got fixed.  The team is almost as bad this year as it was in 1999, when the team came back to the league. 

The one significant difference is that the 1999 team had a first-round QB.

Here are six reasons I am skeptical about this group’s ability to bring the Browns back to being competitive with the AFC North.

Browns President Mike Holmgren Has Not Shown the Ability to Lead an NFL Team

Mike Holmgren was hired as the GM and HC of the Seattle Seahawks before
the 1999 season.  He failed miserably as GM and was forced to give up his duties as GM after the 2002 draft. 

On Dec. 9, 2009, I published an article entitled Is Holmgren the answer to the Browns problems?  I ended the article this way:

“After the 2002 season, Holmgren was relieved of his GM duties. To be fair, he did have some
notable picks in lower rounds, but is this kind of record as head draft guru that the Browns can depend on to turn the team around?  I don’t think so.”

I did not believe he was the answer then, and frankly he has done very little to convince me he is the answer now.

Holmgren’s First Decision Was to Allow Eric Mangini to Coach the Team in 2010

More than anything else this showed that Holmgren’s judgment is flawed.  He had to know that the Mangini/Brian Daboll offense (if you can call it an offense) was not what he wanted long-term. 

The chance of Mangini ever lasting more than a year was near zero.  In addition, Holmgren knew that there was virtual certainty that a lockout would occur after the 2010 season. 

There was a widely discussed probability that there would be no OTA’s and a limited training camp after the new Collective Bargaining Agreement was in place. 

Thus, 2011 was the worst possible time to change head coaches and change both the offensive and defensive systems.  And yet despite all of this, Holmgren disregarded the public outcry and let Mangini coach in 2010.

Holmgren Picked an Inexperienced Head Coach

Those of you that have read my post here “Cleveland Browns: Head Coach Pat Shurmur Must Go Now” know I am less than satisfied with Shurmur. 

He did not have head coaching experience at any level.  In addition, he had a less-than-stellar record as OC in St. Louis.  The fans have seen newbie head coaches come and go like people through the turnstile at an amusement park. 

None of them seemed to have what it took to fix the problems of the team or get the program turned around.

Shurmur, in my opinion, did a bad job as OC of the Browns in 2011 and did not do the job of HC at all. 

The total disaster that was the special teams is just one example of the impact of Shurmur’s failures as HC. 

That alone cost this team at least three and possibly four wins.  An 8-8 season would have shown improvement over a 5-11 season in 2010.  A 4-12 result did not.

Holmgren Allowed Shurmur to Be Both the HC and OC for the 2011 Season

Holding both positions is a major challenge for experienced coaches.  Shurmur had never been a HC. 

I believe that he wanted both jobs because he had some experience as OC and could use the two jobs as an excuse if the season went south. 

He clearly has failed as at some functions of the HC job, with continued issues with the special teams being one example.

He has also failed as OC with one of the most pathetic offensive seasons in team history. 

The many screw-ups prevented the team from winning several very winnable games.

On his behalf, I will say that the team continued to play hard for Shurmur all season long.  But to
win, particularly in the AFC North, you have to play smart as well as hard. 

The team did not play smart in 2011.

Holmgren and Shurmur Selected a Weak Coaching Staff

The saving grace for the team and the season was the selection of Dick Jauron as DC.  

He took a team full of holes and rookies and made a presentable defense from it.  His steady hand allowed the D to keep the team in games when the offense was frankly offensive.

The offensive and special team sides of the staff look weak.  The result was several offensive players, including QB Colt McCoy, actually regressed during the season. 

McCoy looked much better in 2010, even though Mangini had not prepared him to play.  He was thrust into the game due to injuries to two QBs ahead of him on the depth chart.

In 2011, McCoy began to bounce in the backfield waiting for a receiver to break open rather than trusting his guys and throwing to the spot. 

That is a foundation principle of the West Coast Offense. McCoy has gotten shell-shocked by all the hits he has taken in the first 13 games of the season.  His year ended with a huge hit against the Steelers in the first of two games against the team.

By the end of the season, the receivers were dropping more passes than they were catching.  That was
also an indication of regression of the O.

Holmgren, Shurmur and GM Tom Heckert Chose Not to Sign Veteran Free Agents

Even my most casual listener understood what the needs of the Browns were after the 2010 season. 

While the 2011 draft addressed some of the holes in the roster, there were still major issues at WR, DE, FS and in the O line.  But the Browns’ brain trust chose not to fill those holes with significant UFAs. 

Instead, they picked up the cuts from other teams.  Those players were better than nothing but
did not address the basic lack of talent on the roster.

There were several UFAs who would have had a major impact on the 2011 Browns’ season.  Again, just
a couple of more wins would have given this long-suffering fanbase some hope.  But the actions of the big three leaders of the team prevented any such hope from becoming reality.

There is no way that drafts alone can fill all the holes in the roster.  By the time that this group
has accumulated enough picks to fill all the holes, those drafted in 2010 and 2011 will have reached free agency and left the team looking for a winner.  That will generate more holes.

I Will Die a Browns Fan

These are just the most important reasons I have little faith that this group will be able to turn the team around.  We have been told since 1999 that building a team from scratch is “a process.” 

So far we have seen a lot of process and very little progress.  Here in Cleveland, Progress is our most
important problem—project, project.

As for me, I have been a Browns fan since 1954.  I will die a Browns fan.  I just hope watching the team is not the cause of my demise.