CLEVELAND — A NFL team never looks as bad as it does when it fires a head coach after one season.
But keeping him and firing him in his third season after he’s jumped in the lake to pay off a bet—we can say from experience—isn’t exactly a reputation saver either.
The Haslams still don’t appear to have any earthly idea how to build an organization, but they’re closer Monday than they were Sunday to at least not letting one wallow in the shallow hope that continuity alone is the answer.
So maybe there was residual value to the Hue Jackson mistake, mainly a realization that the biggest blunder was keeping him for as long as they did.
Freddie Kitchens won’t get a second year not because the Haslams are suddenly smarter about what they want in a coach. We don’t have that answer yet, and if they throw this decision open and create a power struggle between GM John Dorsey and VP Paul DePodesta we may not get the answer then, either.
But they recognized Kitchens wasn’t what they hoped for, and wasn’t going to become what this team needs just because he was likable inside the building.
Conclusions are never hard and fast in Berea, partly because the shifting seat of power belongs to whomever was not proven wrong most recently (In this competition, DePodesta might have an edge).
But for now, moving on from Kitchens passes for progress.
Firing him Sunday wasn’t nearly the stretch hiring him based on a three-month apprenticeship as offensive coordinator was last year. They thought it made sense to put him in charge of a team ready to win, even though he wasn’t prepared to do anything more than give Baker Mayfield confidence operating the offense.
When that even failed to materialize, when Mayfield significantly regressed, there wasn’t much to recommend the Kitchens hire.
The offense and quarterback were worse than last year despite far better talent (offensive line excluded) in the huddle. Kitchens didn’t exactly impress as a CEO or as a game manager.
What else did that leave? Not enough.
His Browns were undisciplined, sometimes unprepared. It couldn’t have helped that so late in the season they took a delay of game penalty after an Arizona kickoff three weeks ago, melted down at halftime against Baltimore and then allowed a Cincinnati rushing touchdown with only 10 defenders on the field Sunday.
The statement the Haslams' released carried telling words about the need for a "strong head coach" and an "exceptional leader." Kitchens might be inclined to throw those words right back at the Haslams, who blow with the wind as owners and don’t stand for anything identifiable all these years later.
But it’s hard to argue with the line in the statement about the belief Kitchens didn’t offer "opportunities for improvement."
If this first head coaching job was about a learning curve, we would’ve seen more sustained improvement, however small. Other than special teams and a mid-season stretch of reduced penalties, there wasn’t much else.
Better game management as the season went along would’ve helped his case. A player-coach dynamic that didn’t make him look as if he were herding cats wouldn’t have hurt either.
A change was necessary. If players don’t say it, that doesn’t mean they don’t believe it.
What happens next is a guess. Since it’s Berea, throw in some prayers just to be safe.
The Haslams were right to admit a mistake.
The hard part for them, though, never changes: Fixing it.