Cleveland Browns Are an Absolute Train Wreck at Bye Week

It’s official. The Cleveland Browns are just about done transforming into the Oakland Raiders.

Between having a clueless owner who never bothered to sit down and come up with an identity or direction for the team, and having a front office that has the consistency of runny oatmeal, what talented football executive in their right mind would want to come work for this organization?

Marty Schottenheimer recently did an interview on NFL Sirius Radio. During that interview he said he had no interest in being involved with the Browns organization at any level.

Schottenheimer added firing a general manager eight games into the season only tells credible NFL executives to steer clear of that organization because the owner has no idea what he’s doing.

Does this mean firing George Kokinis was the wrong thing to do?

Not necessarily.

There’s a missing component to the Kokinis story. He wasn’t fired solely because the Browns are 1-7 or because he allegedly has had a falling out with head coach Eric Mangini.

While those two points are contributing factors to the firing, the fact that owner Randy Lerner has investigators looking into the last few weeks of Kokinis’ activities and collecting phone records indicates there’s more at work here.

Whether or not the missing component becomes public or not will depend on how far Lerner pursues the firing “for cause” aspect of the Kokinis dismissal.

Back to Schottenheimer’s statement, this only bring into crystal clear focus just how bad Lerner has screwed up as an owner. He now has a team that looks destined to go 1-15. He has a head coach on the brink of losing two jobs in two years, and now he has no GM.

Lerner inherited a team he never wanted, and it shows. This team has no clear direction for winning a Super Bowl, nor does it have an identity on offense, defense, or as a whole.

Players have admitted they don’t know what the goal from week-to-week is. This is very upsetting for any fan of any team when that kind of admission is made.

Mangini has compounded one mistake on top of another and does his best to not take responsibility for any of them while demanding accountability from everyone around him.

In fact, it’s not too far outside the realm of possibility to believe one reason Lerner focused in on Kokinis first was because Mangini decided to throw Kokinis under the bus.

That’s pure speculation, but it’s not outrageous speculation, and that’s the problem with Mangini right now.

The obvious answer is that Lerner needs to sell the team, but that’s not going to happen, so the best fans can hope for at this point is that Bernie Kosar once again becomes the team’s White Knight.

Kosar is not a complete unknown in a football front office. He turned around his Arena League franchise, the Gladiators, before the league folded due to the economy.

While the Arena League is not the NFL, there are similarities in how the organizations are run. If Kosar can translate that to the Browns, the rest of the pieces will fall into place.

As for Mangini’s future, his statement on Tuesday that he’s open to anything that will help the team become better rings hollow when you balance that with his refusal to dismiss offensive coordinator Brian Daboll.

Mangini’s future is murky, and it’s not a far reach to think Lerner is now putting the pieces in place to fire Mangini “for cause.” If Mangini continues to put his trust in Daboll, who has done nothing to earn or keep Mangini’s trust this year, then his fate is sealed.

Lerner already is on the hook for millions to Randy Savage and Romeo Crennel. Kokinis is no longer being paid, unless that is contested, and Mangini may be staring down the ranks of the unemployed before too much longer.

Another blowout loss to the Ravens after the bye week certainly will elicit more changes. A loss to Detroit would be the final nail in the coffin.

Mangini has one last chance to save his career because, make no mistake, he’s burned just about every bridge he had in the NFL. Should he lose this job this year, Mangini is finished.

Let’s just hope the Browns aren’t.