The Browns at the bye are where they’ve been way too often — out of the playoff picture and in disarray.
This year, they’ve taken the level of dysfunction to a new high — or is it low?
They have no head of football operations, no general manager, no clear-cut starting quarterback.
They do have seven losses in eight games, an impending fan protest on “Monday Night Football” designed to embarrass the organization into change, two young quarterbacks who’ve played so poorly they were both benched in the first half of the season, a 31st-ranked offense and a 32nd-ranked defense.
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The embarrassment has been shared on the field and within team headquarters.
The game-day product is so inept, the Browns are irrelevant across the league on Sundays. They only re-enter the national discussion when off-the-field events draw attention to the dysfunction.
General manager George Kokinis was stripped of his duties and escorted from the building last Monday. The next day, two frustrated fans — one who donned a giant dog bone hat — met with owner Randy Lerner to air their grievances and offer suggestions for improving the team.
Lerner is at another crossroads. The fans are restless, the first television blackouts since 1995 are coming, the economy hasn’t recovered and the anticipated improvement in coach Eric Mangini’s first year never arrived.
“I still believe in Eric, and we’re trying to give him the resources he needs to be successful,” Lerner told The Plain Dealer in an e-mail.
Lerner’s top priority is finding an experienced executive to oversee the football operations and make the proper hires. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported former Packers and Seahawks coach and executive Mike Holmgren is at the top of Lerner’s list. Former Browns general manager Ernie Accorsi, Atlanta president Rich McKay and former Packers GM Ron Wolf are also in the discussion. If the eventual choice doesn’t approve of Mangini, the coach could be gone after one year.
Lerner’s already shown Mangini no longer has the run of the place. Director of team operations Erin O’Brien and Kokinis were Mangini selections and have been bounced after just months on the job.
Mangini could be the next to go if things don’t radically improve in the next eight weeks. Lerner would swallow a reported $3.9 million a year through 2012. That would be on top of the $20 million he owed Savage and Crennel when they were fired and the $4 million Kokinis would get if the Browns can’t prove he was fired “for cause.”
A one-and-done for Mangini could be a fitting end to another shipwreck of a season.
First eight games, by the numbers
- 0: TDs scored by running backs and receivers.
- 0: Correct replay challenges, in four tries, by coach Eric Mangini.
- 1: Win by Browns.
- 2: Completions by Derek Anderson in the win.
- 5: Offensive TDs scored.
- 6: Points scored in the lone win.
- 7: Losses by Browns.
- 8: Games left for Mangini to save his job.
- 12: Turnovers created by Browns — four interceptions and eight fumbles.
- 23: Turnovers by Browns — 13 interceptions and 10 fumbles.
- 24.8: Percentage of third downs converted by Browns.
- 36.2: Passer rating of Derek Anderson, lowest in the NFL.
- 39.9: Percentage of third downs converted by opponents.
- 61-9: Combined score of last two losses.
- 62.1: Passer rating of Brady Quinn.
- 78: Points scored in first eight games.
- 209: Points allowed in first eight games.
- 221.1: Yards gained, per game, by Browns.
- 409.1: Yards gained, per game, by opponents.
Contact Scott Petrak at 329-7253 or spetrak@chroniclet.com.
