Is Mike Holmgren Committed to a Winning 2012 Browns Season?

There has been a lot of discussion about how the Browns will play in 2012.  I believe this will be the final exam for Mike Holmgren, Tom Heckert and Pat Shurmur.Unless the Browns get to at least 8-8, a large percentage of the fans will give up on the team.

The Browns have the best and most loyal fans in the NFL.  We have stayed faithful through a bad team in the mid-90s, having our team stolen by Art Modell, and suffering through really bad football since 1999 when the team returned to the field.

Comment after comment on my previous articles and almost every caller to my show indicate that the average Browns fan has his or her toes over the edge of a cliff.  The only thing that keeps them from taking the leap is hope for the 2012 season.

The biggest question on the minds of the fans I encounter is this: Where is the urgency for this management team to win?

There are many reasons that fans feel that way.

The first major mistake that Holmgren made was to allow Eric Mangini to coach in 2010.  The excuse is that Holmgren wanted to give him a chance to succeed.  Mangini was never going to succeed because he and Holmgren were not compatible. 

Any smart fan realizes that is a misrepresentation.  I believe Holmgren had decided Shurmur was going to be his choice to be head coach when he took the job as president.  But Shurmur had only one year as an offensive coordinator by the end of the 2010 season.

Holmgren could not name Shurmur as head coach with that little experience as an offensive coordinator and no head coaching background at any level.  So Mangini was allowed to waste a year and the long-suffering fans were given another bad season.

 Mistake No. 2 was Holmgren allowing Shurmur to call his own plays without an offensive coordinator.  We were told that the team could not find a guy that “fit” their vision for the team.

Again, I believe that Holmgren had decided that he wanted Brad Childress as the offensive coordinator.  Childress was available prior to the 2011 season, but he wanted to take a year off before getting back into the grinder.  So the team went with a shorthanded and under-experienced coaching staff so that Holmgren could get the guy he wanted.

It is not a coincidence that both Shurmur and Childress are represented by Holmgren’s agent.

A third bit of evidence that makes fans question the dedication of team management to winning is the total lack of free agent signings.  For the most part the team added guys who were cut from other clubs rather than getting young potential starters.

This management team has said it wants to build the team through the draft.  The problem is that the roster is in such terrible shape that draft picks alone will never get the team competitive in the AFC North. 

Any statement by management saying the Browns are not going to be active in free agency will only reduce the number of quality unrestricted free agents who will even talk to the Browns.  Quality free agents don’t want to come to a 4-12 team and be the only quality addition.  Free agents want to win.

The fourth piece of evidence involves comments about how the wide receiver group was fine coming out of the 2010 season.  Game 1 starter Brian Robiskie was cut before November got underway.  But since the Browns drafted only one guy and did not sign a starting quality vet, the offense was very offensive.

Fifth is Shurmur’s refusal to adjust his system to fit the skills of QB Colt McCoy.  Colt was more comfortable in the shotgun, but that did not fit Shurmur’s vision of his offense.  Colt had to take snaps under center behind a porous offensive line and got beaten down until he was knocked out against the Steelers.

Let me be clear.  I do not blame ownership.  They have depended on experts in the NFL community to help them find people who can turn the team around.    But ownership does want to win in my opinion. 

So as the team prepares for the 2012 season, the management is on double-secret probation with the fans.  We believe that the staff could care less what we think or want.  They are going to do things their way no matter what.

I believe the team could win 10 games in 2012 if it followed an aggressive path to improve the roster.  I have outlined the steps in the articles below.

Cleveland Browns' 10-Win 2012 Plan: Step One—Which UFAs Will They Re-sign?

Cleveland Browns' 10 Win 2012 Plan: Step 2—Offensive UFAs to Add

Cleveland Browns' 10-Win Plan: Step 3—Sign Defensive Unrestricted Free Agents

I thought the Browns should have traded up to get QB Robert Griffin III, but the news Friday night that the Washington Redskins already have made that move makes that unlikely at best.

I don’t expect the Browns to win 10 games.  But this management team needs to realize that the 2012 season is a final exam for them.  If they are successful and pass the exam, they get a chance to improve their grade average in 2013.

This group has a long way to go if they expect to graduate.  If not, the fans should put as much pressure on the ownership to dump both the president and the head coach and get people who might be able to turn the franchise around.

We fans realize that Holmgren will get at least a fourth year to turn the team around.  But we need to begin to put pressure on him to drop his arrogant disrespect for the press, the media and the fans.  Holmgren needs to create an urgency to win.  That is the only thing that will help the fans step back from the abyss.   

That is what I think.  Tell us what you think.

 

If you want a different look at Cleveland sports, join me on the Internet radio version of News, Notes and Rumors M-Th at 6 PM EST on http://mooheadradio.com/2.0/. 

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Bill Smith is a former coach of several semi-pro teams, has done color on radio for college football and basketball and has scouted talent. He edits http://fryingpansports.com.  He has also published several novels on http://www.eBooks-Library.com/Contemporary/ and a non-fiction work at http://www.merriam-press.com/.