CLEVELAND — San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was the Cleveland Browns’ offensive coordinator during the 2014 season, but after that year, he went to management with a now legendary presentation citing problems within the organization.
Shanahan was granted his release from the organization, and then, spent two years running the Atlanta Falcons’ offense before becoming the 49ers’ head coach in early 2017 after helping Atlanta get to the Super Bowl following the 2016 season.
“It was a very stressful decision for me,” Shanahan recalled in a conference call with the Cleveland media. “You are never really going to fully explain yourself to people and you do not want to have to because you are not trying to throw any other people under the bus or anything like that, but you just come to points in your career where you need to decide something that you believe in.
“Especially from the place that I have been right before that and just some situations that I was in the team before for four years, I just did not want to go down that path. It was an important time in my life. I talked a lot about it with my wife. It was just a decision we made and we were willing to live with it.”
That place Shanahan spoke of before coming to Cleveland was Washington, where he served as his father’s offensive coordinator for four seasons (2010-2013). After the entire staff was dismissed following a rocky tenure under owner Daniel Snyder, Shanahan knew what he wanted and did not want to deal with, and reportedly, that included starting quarterback Johnny Manziel over Brian Hoyer, who had gone 10-6 in his 16 starts in the 2013 and 2014 seasons.
“You do not always know how the results are going to be, but when you are happy with your decisions or your intentions on why you did something, then I feel like you can live with the results of whatever they are,” Shanahan said. “I am happy with where it has led me.”
Although happy with where he and his family are at, Shanahan is “excited for all of” Cleveland to see the Browns doing well.
Despite the roller coaster of the short weeks following the prime time appearances and extra time to wait on game day, the Browns did something Sunday that they have not since December 22, 2002, and that is earn a regulation victory over the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
Behind a stout rushing performance from running back Nick Chubb, a breakout showing from tight end Ricky Seals-Jones and a career day from Jarvis Landry before he suffered a concussion, the Browns (2-2) earned a 40-25 victory over the Ravens (2-2).
It was the Browns’ first road win at Baltimore since October 11, 2015, and it was a critical one, as the victory put Cleveland into first place in the AFC North Division after the first quarter of the 2019 regular season.
“My wife, kids and myself really enjoyed our year in Cleveland,” Shanahan said. “The people were great, and I thought the stadium and the atmosphere of the Browns was unbelievable. I got to feel that because we were 6-3 and 7-4 to start and were first place in the division, so you saw what that hype was about and everyone knows that that year did not last.
“We finished 7-9, so it all went downhill from there. They have been hungry for a long time, and they are getting what they deserve. It is the right town, good people and they have a good coaching staff, good owner, a good GM and some really good players.”