Browns Fans Watching The Game Today With Hope.

Today is Super Bowl LIII, and there is no need to remind you that the Cleveland Browns are one of the few teams in the NFL who have never played in the game.

Only four franchises have never won their conference championships in the Super Bowl era, and two of them, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans, are expansion teams, both coming into the league after 28 championship games had been played.

Yes, the Browns are technically an expansion team as well, rejoining the NFL in 1999, but played in five conference title games in the Super Bowl era before they were ripped from the city and moved to Baltimore.

So, it leaves just the Detroit Lions and the Browns as teams around when the Super Bowl started and have never been there.

Actually, the Lions have only been to one NFC Conference title game, in 1991, losing to the Redskins.

The Browns lost to the Colts in ’68, the Vikings in ’69, and the famous three losses to Denver in the late 80’s.

This year’s Browns give you hope that it won’t be too long before Cleveland can get to the Super Bowl for the first time. They appear to have their quarterback in place at long last in Baker Mayfield, and in going from zero wins to seven this season, the future certainly looks bright.

However, let’s slow down on talk that the Browns can be in Super Bowl LIV next season. Yes, the second half of the season was impressive, and we aren’t even going to bring up the argument that the team didn’t beat anyone good.

They lost to a Ravens squad that everyone was deathly afraid of in week 17 (we weren’t, because of their “gimmick” offense), but had a chance to win on the game’s last possession.

They also lost to another media darling team, the Texans, when Mayfield threw three first half interceptions, and then had a dazzling second half.

The reason we say this is because the Browns haven’t even made the playoffs since 2002.

We understand that it can happen. Heck, the Eagles went from not making the playoffs for three straight seasons to winning the Super Bowl last year.

When the Rams won in 1999, it was their first playoff appearance in ten seasons. So, it can happen. When the Patriots won their first title, they were coming off a 5-11 season.

Still, the Browns have a lot of improvement to make in this off-season. The defense ranked as one of the worst in the league, and even though they have an elite pass rusher and a shutdown corner, there are still improvements that need to be made.

And they have to build depth. Playoff teams withstand injuries, so there must be a “next man up” mentality. It helps if that guy can play professional football at an acceptable level.

Fortunately, John Dorsey has demonstrated he can find these players. And with 11 draft picks and a ton of salary cap space, he will have to opportunity to fill the holes on the roster.

We are also quite satisfied that he knows where these holes are, and that is half the battle.

The biggest thing is having Mayfield though. After a brief period (2001 and 2003) where quarterbacks like Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson won the big game, for the most part, the winning signal callers are at the top of the heap among QB’s.

Only Joe Flacco and Nick Foles would not be considered Hall of Famer type players among winners in the last 15 years.

We’ll bet Dorsey has learned that once you have the franchise quarterback, you build around him, and not rely on him to erase all of the other roster problems.

For the first time in a long time, Cleveland fans can watch the Super Bowl with hope.

Super Bowl Sunday? Browns Still Don’t Know

Today is Super Bowl Sunday.

It is also a day that fans of the Cleveland Browns have never been excited about. In the 51 years of the Super Bowl era, the Browns have never taken part in the game, let alone win the Lombardi Trophy.

Cleveland hasn’t been close to getting to the ultimate NFL experience since the 1989 season, 27 long and mostly dreadful years.

However, in the first 24 Super Bowl years, the Browns got to the what would now be the conference title game five times.

We all know about the game’s most famous upset in Super Bowl III, when the Jets, led by Joe Namath, beat the heavily favored Baltimore Colts 16-7. What is forgotten is the Colts got there by hammering the Browns 30-0 in the NFL title game.

The Colts avenged their lone regular season defeat that day.

Coach Blanton Collier’s crew got to the brink of the Super Bowl the very next year, losing to the Minnesota Vikings, who then lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the last AFL/NFL championship tilt.

That was the last success for what was really the remnants of the Paul Brown era in Cleveland, although the Browns made the playoffs in 1971 and 1972, but didn’t advance in either year.

In ’72, they did put a scare into what turned out to be the undefeated Miami Dolphins, leading in the fourth quarter before a blocked punt turned the game around and Don Shula’s team escaped with a win.

Cleveland didn’t win a playoff game again until 1986, although they did have a brief period of excitement when Sam Rutigliano was the head coach and the Browns became one of the first teams to emphasize the passing game.

In 1980, the Browns won the AFC Central and lost to Oakland in the famous “Red Right 88” game where Brian Sipe threw an interception with the team in point blank range for a game winning field goal.

To be fair, the conditions were horrible that day, and kicker Don Cockroft misses two extra points early.

The closest the Browns got to the Lombardi Trophy was 1986, with the AFC Championship in Cleveland, and Marty Schottenheimer’s squad took a 20-13 lead over Denver in the 4th quarter after Bernie Kosar hit Brian Brennan for a 48 yard touchdown strike.

Watching that game, we felt the Browns were going to get to their first Super Bowl. But then John Elway orchestrated the drive and Cleveland lost in overtime, 23-20. Denver lost the Super Bowl to the Giants.

The following year the same two teams matched up again, and again a bitter disappointment greeted Browns’ fans as Earnest Byner fumbled as he tried to score the game tying TD.

What made that game particularly galling was that Cleveland came back from a 28-10 deficit to the brink of tying the contest.

Denver again went on to lose the Super Bowl to Washington.

The last time the franchise got close was two years later, when they again lost to Denver, this time with Bud Carson at the helm.

Kosar’s finger was injured and the Browns got thumped in Denver, 37-21, and once again the Broncos got obliterated in the Super Bowl, this time by the 49ers.

Since then, the Cleveland Browns have won one playoff game, with one of today’s Super Bowl coaches, Bill Belichick, patrolling the Cleveland sidelines.

That’s been it.

Now, the Browns have started its most ambitious building process in the history of the franchise. They gutted the roster, purging most of the veterans and are now starting to build with a boatload of draft picks, which they hope will turn into a franchise quarterback, and a host of good young players they hope will lead the team back to the playoffs.

And eventually, into the first Super Bowl Cleveland has ever been a part of.

There aren’t many franchises that haven’t been to the Bowl, and the only two who pre-date the game itself are the Lions and Browns.

So, Browns fans will watch the game today without the experience of ever being part of the festivities.

But it is worth reminding everyone that the team has come close a few times, and in the early years of the game, the Browns were a contender to get there.

That was a long, long time ago unfortunately.

Patience Can’t Be Long for Browns Front Office

If you are working for the Cleveland Browns, you can’t be happy with what took place on Sunday afternoon.

After a 3-1 preseason, and two impressive, although meaningless wins at home in exhibition play, the fans of the football team were excited about the changes made in the coaching staff and front office.

After one regular season game, the fan base is crushed, looking at another season of mediocre football.

Now, no one is expecting Joe Banner, Michael Lombardi, and Rob Chudzinski to make wholesale changes after one game, but they can’t sit back and put up with another 10 loss season.

It is nice that progress is being made in terms of upgrading the roster’s talent base, there also needs to be an increase in the Browns’ win total.

Nothing else should be acceptable to the supporters of Cleveland’s pro football team.

That’s why people are confused regarding some of the coach’s comments, particularly those involving G Oneil Cousins, who had four penalties in the opener.

Chudzinski said Cousins was the best option at the position.

Our theory is why not try rookie Garrett Gilkey, because it’s pretty much impossible that he could do worse.

The lack of trying something different, even if it is only one game, makes fans think there is a different agenda here.

We get that perhaps Chudzinski wants to give Cousins another opportunity, because maybe it was just a bad day. However, you have to make a change if he struggles again early in this week’s game against the Ravens.

The same goes for any other position, including quarterback, if the coaching staff cannot get acceptable play.

The time for rebuilding and looking for high draft picks should be over. It is time to start winning football games. Enough is enough.

The front office was very calm this week, despite several media people asking for changes right away. This is probably a good strategy because the organization has to show faith in the players they assembled.

Still, there is a fine line between support for the players and accepting mediocrity. That’s the line that Chudzinski has to walk. He’s got to make clear to everyone in the locker room that another game like last Sunday’s 23-10 loss to Miami will not be tolerated.

We understand that Banner, Lombardi, and Chudzinski aren’t responsible for the horrible record for the Browns over the last 15 years, but they have to understand that the fans base is tired of watching teams that annually compete for the first pick in the draft.

And they also have to realize NFL teams take quantum leaps in terms of wins every year, so it is possible. The Browns’ faithful are anxious because they see teams like the Colts go from two wins to the playoffs in one off-season.

In recent years, they have seen similar turnarounds from the 49ers, Chiefs, and Seahawks. It is a league that lends itself to those situations.

Why can’t the Browns do the same?

Granted, it is just one game, so it is way too early to throw away the season yet. But starting 0-3 or 0-4 is going to have the fans howling at the door in Berea.

Should Be Room for Browns, Tribe on Sports Talk

It is becoming a daily debate among Cleveland sports fans: Indians vs. Browns. It’s really stupid when you think about it, because it would be great if both teams, along with the Cavaliers were all good at the same time, something that hasn’t happened since 2007.

As a fan of all three teams, the Browns talk can be a little overwhelming. All the sports talk stations in town have to do to generate calls is mention any topic relating to the football team and the switchboard is lit up with calls to discuss the issue.

Just in the past week, there was discussion about whether or not fans should be allowed to bring bags/purses into FIrst Energy Stadium for Browns’ games, and the driving habits of two young wide receivers on the Browns.

And we aren’t talking about one segment for a show, these discussions lasted at least an hour.

All the while, the Indians were sitting in contention for a playoff spot, entering the weekend just 2-1/2 games out of a wild card spot.

We get it. Cleveland is a football town. However, it is hysterical to think of how anything football related is viewed through rose-colored glasses at this time of year.

Because the Browns started preseason with a 2-0 record, fans are talking about playoffs, even though the team hasn’t won more than five games in a season since 2007.

We get the optimism. Rob Chudzinski’s crew has some good young talent and a veteran coaching staff and looked to be poised for their best season in six years. Last night’s egg laid against the Indianapolis Colts should temper some of this enthusiasm.

We’ve had the same view for both the wins and the losses. They don’t count, so there is no need to be overly optimistic or pessimistic about the games.

After last night, we still have the same feeling about the 2013 Cleveland Browns. They will be improved, and a record somewhere between 7-9 and 9-7 is very obtainable.

On the other hand, the Indians have played almost 5/6th of their schedule and right now, every game they play has meaning. They have a legitimate shot at the post-season, depending on what web site you look at, they have around 25% chance of making it at this point in the season.

After today, they have perhaps the most critical nine game stretch since the ’07 playoffs with contests against Atlanta, Detroit, and Baltimore, one of their main rivals for the wild card.

If they come through those games still within three or four games of the playoffs, they will have as good a chance as any.

The problem is the over analysis of training camp and exhibition play by both Browns fans and sports talk show hosts as opposed to talking about what the Indians need to do in the regular season to make the post-season.

Browns’ fans get upset at the notion that their team would be upstaged by the Tribe. This is understandable, but really the Indians are held to a higher standard in this city.

Can you imagine the outrage if the Indians lost more than 100 games five years in a row? There would be calls for the Dolan’s to sell the team, get a new general manager and make wholesale changes to the roster.

The Browns have done just that, and although there has been some criticism, their fans talk about patience and the process of building a winning football team.

The next week and a half should be about the Tribe. Their chance to make the playoffs (imagine a Cleveland team playing in them!) probably rests with those nine games.

The Browns won’t start playing games that count until after that stretch is over.

Let’s put the debate on how the Browns’ punter will be and give the Indians their due during this stretch of games.

Why Pan Browns’ Draft Now?

Nothing brings out so called experts like the NFL Draft. Everyone has their “individual draft boards”, which is usually based on what people in the media tell them.

For the most part, these fans haven’t ever seen the players they are rating highly, and even if they have seen them play, they don’t know if the skill set they saw during a college game will translate to the professional level.

In Cleveland, there is an affinity for the famous player or anyone from Ohio State. Either one of these guys will no doubt become a superstar.

You also have the people who will go back and criticize a team for not taking a player in a later round who wound up being a potential Hall of Famer. To be sure, if every team would have known Tom Brady would become one of the all time greats, they would have taken them in the first round, including New England and Bill Belichick.

Sometimes you don’t have a good book on a player until you get the opportunity to work with them on an everyday basis.

Remember, all of these people giving the Browns bad grades are not working in the personnel departments of any NFL teams. Mostly, they are media people with an opinion. And if you don’t agree with their ranking of players, then that team receives a bad grade.

This isn’t to say that Joe Banner and Michael Lombardi had the best draft since the Steelers in 1974 (they drafted Jack Lambert, John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, and Mike Webster) either. We are simply saying it is way too early to tell.

And trading the picks wasn’t a bad idea either. Apparently, the Browns didn’t see anyone there who could make an immediate impact with this year’s team, so they dealt them for a better choice in next year’s selection meeting. Why would that be a problem?

Also, ludicrous is the bashing Banner and Lombardi are taking for dealing with the Steelers, especially those saying you can’t deal in your division. If Pittsburgh wanted to deal Ben Roethlisberger, you’d have to be an idiot to turn them down because you don’t want to trade with a team in your division.

Look, we get that Banner and Lombardi aren’t likeable guys, at least in their public persona’s, and it is easy to take issue with their moves. But they have earned a chance, and they should get to fail a couple of times before they are written off as morons.

They are also getting heat for not trading down in the first round and picking up another second round selection. Yet, many of those people saying the Browns should have done just that, still complain about trading down in 2011 and giving up the right to pick Julio Jones.

Will we really hear from any of those people in Barkevious Mingo turns out to be the next defensive impact player in the NFL? Of course not.

The point is, the front office liked Mingo and they took him. He appears to be a superior athlete, but that doesn’t make him a great player, it simply gives him the ability to be one if he has the drive to succeed.

It is sure that the Browns’ executives interviewed the former LSU standout and talked to his coaches about those factors. It is part of the due diligence that organizations have to go through.

We won’t know how the Browns did until at least halfway through the 2013 season. Until then, you can’t condemn anyone for this rookie class. It’s simply way too soon.

Note to Haslam: Losing Won’t Be Tolerated Anymore

The Cleveland Browns had another bad public relations moment on Tuesday.

You might think it was Phil Dawson’s announcement that he is signing with the San Francisco 49ers, ending his tenure as the last Brown remaining from the 1999 expansion team.

The way the team handled Dawson’s free agency wasn’t smart, with team president Joe Banner seemingly indifferent about the departure.

However, in the long run, the front office was just adhering to Branch Rickey’s long ago theory: It is better to get rid of a player a year too early, than a year too late.

At Dawson’s age, even though he’s had great seasons the last two years, you can make that argument.

Dawson should be commended for a great career here, and someday his name and number will be on the team’s Ring of Honor, but he’s a kicker. There isn’t a great deal of difference between the best field goal kicker in the NFL and a middle of the road guy.

The real story though should be owner Jimmy Haslam’s comments regarding Dawson at the owner’s meetings in Arizona. Haslam said it’s not like the Browns are going 13-3 next season.

Really?!

We’ve said this before, but there is no more patience with this football team, and no one cares about new ownership, new front office, and a new coach.

The Browns were 5-11 last season with a poor (to say the least) offensive coaching staff. It would not be a stretch to say Cleveland could have been a 7-9 team with better offensive game plans and better utilization of a few offensive players.

So, for the owner to dismiss a turnaround to a playoff contending season is not something to ignore. Did his right-hand man Joe Banner tell him that with all the changes being made, winning is impossible in 2013?

Teams make quantum leaps in terms of success every year in the NFL. Last year, the Indianapolis Colts went from having the leagues worst record to a playoff spot.

A year earlier, San Francisco hired Jim Harbaugh and immediately became one of the better teams in the NFC.

That’s the type of improvement that Haslam, Banner, and Mike Lombardi should be expecting at this point in the off-season. Not telling the fan base that they should expect another year of mediocrity.

It’s simply not acceptable. When former GM Tom Heckert and coach Pat Shurmur were let go, it wasn’t done as part of another “five-year plan”. Haslam was viewed as an owner that felt losing was not an option.

He said he wanted to build the right way, through the draft, and not have the Browns have one year of solid football and go back into mediocrity. But it appears, he and his people feel the team needs another year or two of rebuilding.

The owner may be trying to slow down optimism a bit with his comment, but he should know better than to say something like that. With a new head coach, an experience offensive coordinator in Norv Turner, and a hot defensive headman in Ray Horton, the Browns better be closer to 13-3 this season than they are to 3-13.

If they aren’t, the goodwill from buying the franchise that Haslam has will be as short-lived as Shurmur’s tenure here as head coach.

Best Change For Browns Would be Winning

The Cleveland Browns announced yesterday that the venue that they play would now be known as First Energy Field.

Who cares?

Owner Jimmy Haslam also discussed uniform changes, cheerleaders, and the surface of the field during the press conference announcing the naming rights to the building formerly known as Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Again, who cares?

While some of these things are nice and add to the ambiance of the game experience, in the end they don’t matter.

All of those things are either about money or marketing. Let us remind you again, the best marketing plan in Cleveland, Ohio when it comes to sports is…WINNING!

Let’s hope Jimmy Haslam and Joe Banner understand that, because if they do, the Browns will be the talk of the town, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Want proof? They pretty much are the subject of sports talk every day any way, and they’ve made one playoff appearance in 14 years. Imagine if they were a Super Bowl contender? Fans would be lining up at the stadium every day just to look at the edifice.

You couldn’t go anywhere in the area without bumping into someone wearing a Browns jersey or having someone barking at you. It would be that crazy.

For all of the shock and horror that would come with a change in the uniforms and/or helmet, if the Browns came out with chartreuse jerseys, ruby-red cleats, and a navy blue helmet and went 14-2 and won the Super Bowl, not one person would care.

The uniform change is all about money. It will give Haslam the right to make up for the billion dollars he spent to buy the franchise in merchandising. Many people who have Cleveland Browns’ paraphernalia will rush out to store to buy jerseys in the new style.

The uniforms have nothing to do with the performance on the field. That’s why it was a joke this season when fans complained about wearing white uniforms at home all the time. Heck, it wasn’t an issue in the 1960’s when the Browns were a perennial contender.

The only time we saw the brown shirts was when the team played in Dallas, St. Louis, and Los Angeles, because the Cowboys, Cardinals, and Rams also wore white at home.

As for going to field turf, which should be done for many reasons, but the end result will be added revenue for the Browns and Haslam.

The playing field at First Energy Stadium is a complete joke considering there are maybe 14 or 15 games played there every year. The severe weather conditions are a factor in late fall or early winter, but the grass looks chopped up even in September games.

Going to field turf would be beneficial to the primary tenant, because it would help speed players. However, it would also allow more games to be played at the stadium.

You could have more college games, some high-profile high school games, including state playoffs and at some point, even state title games with an artificial playing surface.

It would also make the stadium a site for concerts too, without the fear of damaging the playing surface.

Changes like these are fine, but they are like putting lipstick on a pig. None of these things will matter if the football team doesn’t win.

Here’s hoping the Haslam and Banner understand that.

Let Chud Coach A Game First

Of course, for fans of a football team with just two playoff appearances in the last 18 years, the hiring of Rob Chudzinski by the Cleveland Browns was met with a great deal of negativity.

However, if the whole fiasco surrounding Oregon coach Chip Kelly hadn’t taken place, would these people feel any differently?

Even though Kelly hasn’t spent one day in the NFL as an assistant coach or head man, he was a big name and would have created a big splash and a buzz with the Browns’ fan base.

The reality is no one really knows what kind of head coach Rob Chudzinski will be until he coaches a few games in the regular season.

As Plain Dealer columnist Terry Pluto wrote, Steelers fans probably weren’t thrilled about the hire of Mike Tomlin, nor were Raven fans ecstatic when they found out John Harbaugh was their new head coach. Neither was a “hot” candidate when they got the job.

On the converse side, look at the cases of Norv Turner, who is a favorite to be Chudzinski’s new offensive coordinator, and Wade Phillips, currently the defensive coordinator for Houston.

Turner was the OC with the Dallas Cowboys for many years when that team was winning Super Bowls. He directed an offense led by QB Troy Aikman, RB Emmitt Smith, and WR Michael Irvin. He is a great coordinator.

However, his record as a head coach is disappointing to say the least. In 16 years with the Redskins, Raiders, and Chargers, Turner’s record is just 114-122-1, a .483 winning percentage. His teams made the playoffs just four times.

Phillips has a great reputation as a defensive coach, and he has made the Texans a contender by making them stronger on the defensive side of the football. However, although his regular season record as a head coach is better than Turner’s (82-61 in stints with Denver, Buffalo, and Dallas, plus interim stints with the Saints and Falcons), he has won just one playoff game in five appearances.

The point is just because you are a great coordinator, it doesn’t translate into success as a head coach.

And as Tomlin and Harbaugh show us, sometimes a candidate who seemingly comes out of nowhere can be a big winner as a head coach. That’s why any judgment on Chudzinski should be reserved until he coaches a game.

He has had success as a coordinator, most notably with the Browns in 2007 and with the Panthers in 2011. The Browns ranked 8th in the league in points scored in ’07, while the Panthers ranked 5th in ’11.

His offenses have ranked in the top 12 three times in his five years as a coordinator, and his rushing attacks have been in the top ten three times, showing not only that he will make good use of Trent Richardson, but also he’s not a guy who falls in love with the passing game.

You can still hear fans disappointed that Jimmy Haslam III and Joe Banner didn’t hire Bill Cowher, Tony Dungy, or Jon Gruden, the holy trinity of former NFL coaches. Those fans are delusional. Those guys don’t want to coach anymore. They make a lot of money talking about the game and don’t have to suffer through the possibility of losing games each week.

Who knows if Rob Chudzinski will be successful in his new gig? No one. Going into the process, many people said if Haslam and Banner were wowed by a candidate, they should hire him.

They shouldn’t be criticized because that guy was Rob Chudzinski and not Chip Kelly.

Browns Need Coach, Not System

Now that the dust has settled regarding the firings of the Cleveland Browns head coach and general manager, it is time to look at what kind of coach Jimmy Haslam and Joe Banner should be looking for.

The early speculation has the Browns intrigued by Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who has been in charge of an NFL team before, and is a former defensive coordinator with Cleveland in the Bill Belichick regime.

Reportedly, Banner is in Arizona this week to interview Oregon coach Chip Kelly, an offensive guru who runs a spread option type of offense. However, Kelly has never coached at the NFL level.

It would be nice if Haslam and Banner at least kicked the tires on former Bears’ coach Lovie Smith, who has coached in a Super Bowl and whose team went 10-6 this season, and Ken Whisenhunt, who took the Cardinals to the Super Bowl a few years ago.

However, what the Browns really need is a coach. They need a man to come in, look at the talent available and put together a system or game plan that emphasizes the strengths of that talent.

And this isn’t talking solely about Brandon Weeden either. They need to get the most out of Trent Richardson, a young receiving corps, an offensive line with three high draft choices, and a defense that has a good base because of a young, talented line.

So a switch to a 3-4 scheme would involve getting new personnel, which would likely mean a process taking more than one off-season.

If Kelly can do that, great. The same with Saban, Smith, or Whisenhunt.

What cannot happen is another delay of a couple of years waiting for the new coach to bring in players who fit his style of play or system. This is no time for patience, nor is it time to overhaul a roster because a coach wants to bring in his guys.

There can be no more delays in putting together a winning team.

Not after what we saw this year in which Indianapolis went from two wins to the playoffs. The Rams went from two wins to seven. The Vikings and Redskins each made the playoffs after winning three and five games respectively in 2011.

It can be done.

That should be the focus of the interviewing process conducted by Haslam and Banner. Can the coach be adaptable or does he have to play a certain way with a certain system?

Coaches can have a preferred way to win games, particularly offensively, but look at the job John Fox did in Denver last season. He tried to win with a conventional offense, but it wasn’t working, so he went with Tim Tebow and a system that showed off his strengths.

It probably wouldn’t have worked for the long haul, but it did for one season.

Remember also that Belichick went 11-5 with Matt Cassell playing QB for an injured Tom Brady.

The great coaches in the NFL adapt and change based on the talent they have, and from the press conference, it seems that’s the kind of coach the Browns want to hire.

The beef with Pat Shurmur was he was married to the west coast offense even though Weeden and Richardson would have been better in a different kind of attack.

They want someone who will be here for the long haul. Someone that will have long-term success.

The Cleveland Browns need to hire a coach this time. Not a system that the rest of the NFL will catch up to in two years, but a man who can lead and get the most out of his players.

Hopefully, they will find that guy.

In Last Game, Shurmur is True to Form

The Cleveland Browns 24-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers this afternoon was a microcosm of Pat Shurmur’s tenure as head coach, a tenure that will end after this contest.

The Browns outgained the Steelers 320 yards to 212, but mistakes made by the offense, mostly turnovers killed any chance for Shurmur’s team to put up points. In the 32 games under his head coaching, Cleveland scored more that 21 points just five times. They moved the ball, but couldn’t put it in the end zone.

The average NFL team scores 22.7 points per game, so to get to that figure and above just five times speaks to the philosophy of the guy calling plays, and that would be Shurmur.

He did show a little aggressiveness today, using a fake punt, but at the end of the half, he did not use a timeout despite getting a nine yard pick up on first down with about 40 seconds remaining. In your last game as head coach, with a 5-10 record and absolutely nothing at stake, why not try to score at least a field goal.

Shurmur supporters will point out that he didn’t want to turn the ball over, but really! You are assuming your quarterback is going to make a poor play? That’s terrible coaching.

Then again, on the last drive of the game trailing by 14 points, he refused to use a timeout until QB Thaddeus Lewis was injured on the games penultimate play. The team was moving the ball, but there didn’t seem to be much of a sense of urgency from the coaching staff.

Lewis acquitted himself well, completing 22 of 32 passes for 204 yards with a touchdown pass to Greg Little and a terrible interception in the first quarter. The Browns also ran the ball fairly well, gaining 138 yards, of which 35 came on the fake field goal run by Ray Ventrone.

Still, even without that run, Cleveland still outgained Pittsburgh on the day on the ground, with Brandon Jackson (remember him?) coming out of moth balls to gaining 54 yards on eight carries. Guess the fresh legs argument would apply to him.

Lewis did run a similar offense to what was run all year, an attack made up of mostly short throws and crossing patterns. He was accurate for the most part and looked like a guy who can play in the NFL.

The defense played fairly well, holding Ben Roethlisburger to just 121 net yards in the air and sacking him twice, both by DE Jabaal Sheard.

The two fumbles, one by Josh Gordon and the other by Travis Benjamin, set up the Steelers for two touchdowns on short fields, and that was the difference in the game.

So now, everyone in the organization is on the watch for when Shurmur and probably GM Tom Heckert will be fired. The latter has brought a lot of talent in the organization and should keep his gig, but won’t because the new boss wants his own man.

We have said this before, but here goes…Fire Heckert if you want, but the next guy has to be better than him. That’s the challenge for Joe Banner, who seems like a guy who was beat up by athletes in high school and now we wants to exact revenge.

Here’s hoping the new crew will put the offensive players in a system suited to their strengths, and add a pass rusher and some secondary help to the defense. If this is done, the Cleveland Browns could be looking at a winning record and a possible playoff berth as early as next season.

This isn’t a Browns team devoid of talent like after Eric Mangini’s tenure, there are pieces in place.

Hopefully, Banner and Jimmy Haslam understand that and don’t start another total rebuilding process. The fans of the Browns are tired of waiting and for the first time there is brightness on the horizon.