CLEVELAND: Firing Browns coach Mike Pettine with one-quarter of the season remaining would do no good.
In fact, it might do more harm than good. Owner Jimmy Haslam, already saddled with the reputation of having a quick trigger, will face a monumental challenge of finding a credible replacement willing to take over a team that is 2-10 and has lost 15 of its last 17 games.
I know there are only 32 NFL jobs and hundreds of coaches aspire to get their chance at one. But do they aspire to work for a franchise that redefines dysfunction daily?
What of worth could come out of relieving Pettine of his duties and promoting offensive coordinator John DeFilippo, who has been a quarterbacks coach virtually his entire career? How can Haslam make special teams coordinator Chris Tabor an interim coach after his unit’s embarrassing blunders on Monday Night Football? Running backs coach Wilbert Montgomery played nine years in the league, but can’t get anything out of Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson.
When he hired Pettine on Jan. 23, 2014, Haslam said he believed in Pettine. Another knee-jerk reaction would further damage Haslam’s credibility.
Just because the fans want blood doesn’t mean Haslam has to feed their lust. Pettine is a victim of Ray Farmer’s inadequacies as general manager. The Browns have the worst talent in the league, especially at the skill positions, and have been wracked by injuries.
Best to let Runaway Train 2.0 remain on track for the first overall pick in the 2016 draft.
Of course, that doesn’t mean Haslam won’t sleep on Sunday’s 37-3 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at FirstEnergy Stadium and decide Pettine is gone, whether on Monday or hours after the Jan. 3 finale. The poor performance, the fans with bags over their heads, the empty seats made it feel worthy of such a response.
It marked the Browns’ worst loss since the 41-0 Christmas Eve massacre against the Steelers in 2005. Since the Browns defeated the Bengals in a Thursday night game in Cincinnati on Nov. 6, 2014, when they finished the weekend 6-3 and in sole possession of the AFC North lead, the Browns are 3-16.
That could be more than enough for Haslam, even before he considers Pettine’s handling of quarterback Johnny Manziel and his reluctance to fire close friend and defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil.
It could also eat at Haslam that Pettine didn’t get angry afterward. He said he was “absolutely” satisfied with the Browns’ effort.
“Pull up the film and find me a guy that didn’t play hard, then go in the locker room and ask him if he didn’t play hard,” Pettine said.
That’s exactly what one fan standing in the exclusive new Club 46 area across from the locker room wanted reporters to do. He said something to the effect of, “Be sure you ask them how they feel when they cash that check.”
That didn’t happen, because few players spoke. Those who did, like center Alex Mack and left tackle Joe Thomas, talked in a monotone and said little they hadn’t said before.
“Nobody wants to be on a team that’s losing or a 2-10 team, but part of being a professional is putting the scoreboard or the record behind you and playing the same way at practice every single day and every single game. That’s my mindset and that’s what I’m going to implore my teammates to do,” Thomas said.
Hopefully he will implore with a little more fervor.
Inside the locker room, there was none of the anger, none of the passion I wish I’d seen from Pettine. Linebacker Chris Kirksey, who got in the face of Bengals halfback Jeremy Hill after he jumped into the west end zone after a touchdown, gave one-sentence answers.
“I’m just trying to protect the house,” Kirksey said.
Others surely feel that way, but Kirksey was the only one who showed it. That’s why fans cheered him despite his outburst against Hill drawing a 15-yard penalty.
Receiver Brian Hartline may have the most to say, but declined to share. “I want to keep a job,” the former GlenOak and Ohio State player said.
That seems like the focus of all in Berea for the final month. Count the days, keep the emotions behind closed doors and spew the rote answers.
Four more games of futility until there’s light at the end of the tunnel — the No. 1 pick. And at the moment, there’s no guarantee the Browns will get that right, either.
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.