The Browns Keep Asking the Wrong Question

The other day, Cleveland.com ran a story — well, it was really more of a podcast recap, which I suppose is one of the things that qualify as a story these days — with the headline: ‘They have to get the coach right’: Why the Browns’ twin mission could finally end their misery.

The quote in the headline sounds like it might have come from an official Browns’ source, but it did not. It came from Orange and Brown talk host Dan Labbe. I guess that’s the name of the podcast. The full quote is as follows.

Well, actually, the full-full quote is this:

Nineteen years? You think the Cleveland Browns are going to hire a coach they’re going to keep for NINETEEN YEARS? I mean, knowing this organization, you’d have to say the odds are against them hiring a coach they’re going to keep for nineteen months.

But, OK, let’s cut Dan a break — he’s only trying to make a point: The Browns need to get this coaching thing right, and then they need to get the quarterback thing right, and that’s the only way they’re going to escape the 25-plus-year malaise that has haunted the team and the city.

That seems to make sense.

That’s the core argument of pretty much every sports talk show on earth. Gotta get the coach right! Gotta get the star right!

Only, in my view, it’s entirely wrong.

I’m going to say something that will sound ridiculous. It probably is ridiculous. But in my view doesn’t matter at all who they hire as coach. I’m serious. It also doesn’t matter at all who they end up betting on as quarterback. Again, I’m serious. I mean, OK, I’m exaggerating a little when I say it doesn’t matter “at all,” — they can’t hire, I don’t know, Natalie Portman as coach and draft me as quarterback and expect that to work (though it would be great fun; I love Natalie Portman).

But assuming they hire a qualified coach, as they surely will, and draft a highly rated quarterback, as they surely will, it doesn’t matter if they “get it right.”

No, what matters — the REAL way for the Browns or any terrible team to escape the malaise — is to build an organization that is geared to winning. An organization set up to make smart decisions, avoid groupthink, challenge conventions, reject panic, stay true to itself, and learn from its many mistakes. That’s not a “right guy” issue.

You think John Harbaugh succeeded in Baltimore for that long because he was the “right guy?” You think Ben Roethlisberger had a 165-81 record in Pittsburgh because he was “the right quarterback?”

I don’t. I think if John Harbaugh had been hired by the Browns in 2008 instead of the Ravens, it’s more likely than not that he would have joined Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Pat Shurmur, Hue Jackson, whatever that guy after Hue Jackson was named, and Kevin Stefanski as a name on the wall of perennial losers.

And if the Browns had drafted Ben Roethlisberger in 2004 — which they absolutely could have done; they took Kellen Winslow Jr. instead — it’s more likely than not that the Browns would still have stunk and Roethlisberger would have followed the same doomed path of Brady Quinn, Brandon Weeden, Colt McCoy, and Johnny Football.

I believe if the Browns had drafted Tom Brady, he would not be broadcasting games (which would be better for all of us).

You might disagree. That’s reasonable. You might think the Browns — and all bad teams — are victims of a few poor choices at critical moments. But after watching this particular team closely for all these years — and plenty of other losing clubs too — I’ve come to feel differently about it. I believe the Browns are a broken franchise driven by fear, greed, and panic. That’s what drives me crazy about them. That’s what can’t be fixed with a coach or quarterback, no matter how right they might be.

Let’s go back just a few years, to 2020.

That year, the Browns hired Kevin Stefanski as coach. They already had their chosen quarterback, former No. 1 pick Baker Mayfield. That year, they went 11-5, made the playoffs for the first time in almost 20 years, blasted through the Steelers in the playoffs, and somehow gave the Kansas City Chiefs a game before losing by just five. Stefanski was named coach of the year. Mayfield had a 96 quarterback rating and was on every other commercial. The Browns were the hottest thing in the NFL.

Didn’t they pick right?

Sure, they did. But it didn’t matter because they’re the Browns and they did what the Browns do. They tried to make a national splash by getting Odell Beckham Jr., and that turned into a disaster. They ran into adversity and handled it poorly. They lost a handful of close games. Mayfield tried to play through an injury and wasn’t effective. They finished 8-9.

A good organization would work through it, shut out the criticism, calmly evaluate the team’s strengths and weaknesses, remember what it stands for, and follow its North Star.

The Browns are not a good organization. So they totally freaked out and traded every draft choice and all the salary cap money they had for a quarterback who had not played in a year and faced 24 credible sexual misconduct lawsuits, along with a certain long suspension from the NFL.

That was … a choice.

And it was inevitable. If it wasn’t that trade, it would have been a series of other spectacularly misguided moves. That’s just what this organization is. The owner has proven repeatedly that he lacks the patience, the vision, the imagination or the moral clarity to build a winner. The general manager is the guy who made that trade. Baker Mayfield went to Pro Bowls with someone else. The two-time coach of the year was fired.

It doesn’t matter who the Browns hire. It really doesn’t. It also doesn’t matter who they draft to play quarterback. Until the Browns make decisions patiently, based on evidence and principle, and not abandon them because of noise, fear, or embarrassment, there’s no chance of things changing.

Right coach? Right quarterback? Doesn’t matter.

All that matters comes down to one question: Can the Browns fix who they are?

You don’t have to answer the question.