Analysis: Browns to fire head coach Rob Chudzinski
None of this makes any sense. None at all, not even a little bit.
The only way Rob Chudzinski being fired after a single season can be sort of, kind of rationalized is if the Browns intend to hotly pursue a rockstar replacement like Jon Gruden or Bill Cowher. Yes, in Chudzinski's single season the Browns lost a lot of football games. They lost 11 of them, and six in a row to end the season.
But look a little closer at that streak which ended both the Browns' season and Chud's time in Cleveland, and you see a team that didn't at all fold, as three of those losses came by a touchdown or less. That included a one-point loss to the Patriots after some Tom Brady heroics.
In fact, winning three of his first five games and even remaining competitive was an accomplishment given the utter lack quarterback competence Chudzinski had to work with. That's the larger issue here: the Browns' demise doesn't fall solely or even primarily on the shoulders of a rookie head coach. No, it falls on the substandard roster he was given, much of which came from a previous regime.
After hope was briefly supplied by Brian Hoyer before his torn ACL, Chudzinski had to run his vertical offensive first with draft bust Brandon Weeden, and then merely serviceable journeyman Jason Campbell. He also had the creaky Willis McGahee as his starting running back after Trent Richardson -- the third overall pick in 2012 -- was traded in late September.
He was left with scraps and castaways at two of the most important offensive skill positions after the draft failings of a previous front office. And yet still in Chudzinski's offense Josh Gordon finished with a league-leading 1,564 receiving yards. And yet still, Jordan Cameron was third overall among tight ends in receiving yards (848).
When a team is rebuilding as the Browns clearly are, the process should often be given much more weight than the results. Jimmy Haslam and Joe Banner want both, now.
They're not realistic men, and they feel as though the best way to achieve progress is to change the head coach for the second time in two seasons (oh, and pay them both to not coach). Good luck with that.