Cleveland Browns vs Pittsburgh Steelers Week 17 Open Thread
December 29, 2013If Rob Chudzinski is fired, it’s just another Browns embarrassment
December 29, 2013Every year, there are several head coaches canned in the NFL and many of those moves occur on Black Monday, the day after Week 17. With the season winding down today, rumors are flying everywhere on Twitter.
One of the latest rumors involves the Cleveland Browns potentially considering firing first-year head coach Rob Chudzinski.
[ Also Read: If Rob Chudzinski is fired, it’s just another Browns embarrassment]
Some of the murmurs began earlier this week with a column from Dan Pompei, veteran NFL reporter formerly with the Chicago Tribune, over at Bleacher Report. Here was his paragraph on Chudzinski’s future:
No one is talking about the Browns making a head-coaching change, but if they do it won’t surprise some people around the league. The reason is not that Rob Chudzinski has done a poor job, though. It’s that the Browns didn’t get who they wanted a year ago. The new Browns management team went after Chip Kelly, Jon Gruden and Nick Saban last offseason and might be inclined to make another pitch for a big name. The management team thought the Browns could be a .500 team this season after going 5-11 in 2012. If the Browns lose in Pittsburgh on Sunday, they’ll finish 4-12. Another interesting point: Money is not an issue to team owner Jimmy Haslam, so having to pay off the last three years of Chudzinski’s contract probably would not deter him from making a move.
On ESPN this morning, Chris Mortensen then mentioned Chudzinski’s name as one potential surprise firing that could theoretically occur. He added to his TV report with the following tweet.
One place of turmoil (again) to monitor is Cleveland Browns, where there's some turmoil & unhappiness with how team folded 2nd half of year
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) December 29, 2013
Additionally, ESPN Cleveland’s Tony Grossi also tweeted out the following. It’s uncertain whether he was responding to the report from Mortensen or Pompei, but these are not pleasant indications either.
There are some bad vibes indicating uncertainty about the future of #Browns HC Rob Chudzinski. Incredible.
— Tony Grossi (@TonyGrossi) December 29, 2013
An uninteresting Week 17 game against the Steelers this afternoon just got a little bit more exciting. We’ll share any further updates as they roll around today.
Others that have commented on the situation include Sports Illustrated’s Don Banks (tweet), ESPN’s Jon Clayton (tweet), NFL Network’s Albert Breer (tweet) and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport (tweet).
[Related: Rob Chudzinski and how saying the right things can still feel wrong]
26 Comments
Silly season has officially begun.
That implies that an end occurred somewhere since 1999
Kind of like the Cavs problem last season was Byron Scott?
Who in gods name do they think they can get? If there was a halfway decent q.v. we would have been at least 8-8. Pick a franchise q.b. and rb in the draft. First order of business is to kick weeden to the curb or just leave him in pittsburgh. Tell him to find his own way home.
if this happens, it’s 4-12 next year because new coaching schemes take time doncha know. so reset your reboot clocks; a new five year patience cycle about to commence.
the d-baggery of canning Chud would be staggering and it’s message would clear: don’t stand close to the curb at the bus stop if Napoleon-complex banner
is near.
Whoever is responsible for continuing to let
Greg Little keep playin and not use Josh Cooper more is an idiot. At least he can catch the football and he always seems to get open. Where has he been all season
No wonder why the Browns never get anywhere …. Here’s a novel idea! Ignore the Cleveland sports media. Better yet, get rid of them.
At what point does the idiot Joe “the bean counter” Banner take responsibility for any of this garbage. So after he fires one or two more HCs when does Banner get his. This mess is all at his feet. He’s hired everyone. Put people of his choice in place. The guys at are producing came from the previous administration he got rid of. Funny I didn’t see any of Banners guys making the Pro Bowl roster.
They’ve gotta fire him he’s by far the worst head coach in the NFL. Main reason why Carolina are so much better this year is bc they got rid of Chudzinski.
The local media aren’t reporting this, it’s all national people, as per usual
He’s the worst head coach in the NFL and it’s not even close why would it be d-baggery to can Chudzinski? Come on show some football IQ here.
Just hire Jim Tressel for the Browns head. Coach and be done with it!!! If he can’t produce a winner within 2-3 years, no one can!
Just because Tony Grossi has bad vibes doesn’t mean this report is true. I don’t buy this report. There are many more personnel issues on the team rather than to change the coach again.
For those of you keeping score, Chudzinski is .250 on winning games and Banner is .000 on hiring coaches.
saying things like “by far the worst” makes your argument tough to swallow. it’s too polarizing. But you certainly have a point with regards to Carolina. And I certainly agree that Chud has a long way to go.
But I think it would be a mistake to knee-jerk fire a guy who seems to have the right demeanor and grasp of football. For me, when you are on your 3rd QB and you’ve traded your #1 RB 3 games into the year, the head coach ain’t the problem.
On the money, as usual.
Chud has done a horrible job with this team. The Browns have collapsed during the second half of the season and the team has played uninspired football. Mangini was much better.
No this is just great. We get a new coach who fires all the current ones, switches back to a 4 -3 defense, moves sheard back inside, moves mingo to wide reciever, all the while preaching patience. Sounds good to me.
Haslim should fire Chuzinsky and stupid Banner too for hiring him. Especially Banner. That little idiot is so arrogent! He’s the one that is destroying everything we built here. It was fine until he came.
YEah, Banner is a loser! Who cares if he got lucky and hired Andy Reid. He was overated as a coach anyways. That little idiot hired Chudz and should be canned for that immediately. This is all his fault
hahahaha… this message not endorsed by the other jimkanicki.
Another mess of a Browns season has come to an end. Most in the Browns Twitter GM crew will try and tell us that this year was marked for evaluation. They’d also tell us that Johnny Manzeil has good upside and can make plays outside of the pocket. Problem is, nobody can survive outside of the pocket in today’s NFL. The notion that that we needed to watch the likes of Brandon Weeden and Greg Little, in the flesh, to accurately evaluate them was complete garbage. All of us watched last year’s 16 games and probably knew that neither would take us to the Super Bowl.
This miserable regime, led by the failed everywhere Mike Lombardi, has somehow convinced our smart and savvy fan base that this mess is SOLELY about a lack of quarterbacking. As if grabbing some questionmarked QB like Bridgewater, Manziel, Boyles, or Garappolo will somehow fix the disaster that we have watched the past seven weeks.
Let’s be clear. This is about much more that quarterbacking. We need multiple interior linemen; skilled offensive players, and depth in the back 4-8 on defense. Wouldn’t be a bad idea to also bring a legit NFL fullback into the fray.
I recommend that we all look past the Browns draft Twitter patsies and CRITICALLY ASSESS this mess of a season. We could have done much better!! And, NO DOUBT, we all deserve much better, having watched 15+ years of total crap!!!!
— signed, a 25 year season ticket holder (enough is enough)!
go browns.
Where there is smoke there is fire Chris Mortensen is reporting that Chudzinski will be fired so looks like I was wrong again. There is something severely wrong with the professional sports teams in Cleveland, Ohio. Severely!
If you’re going to parody kanick right, you need to do a better job of capturing his voice. For example, his spelling is actually very good. It is his lack of capitalization that is his affectation of choice.
Work on it! I’m sure you’ll nail it eventually.
Chudzinski has been relieved of his head coaching duties with the Cleveland Browns. (via 24_7_sportsnews on Instagram)
Just a quick question out of curiosity.
If the Browns do better then 4-12 next year with a new coach, would that make you happy, or deep down does being able to be right and playing “told ya so” more important to you then the team winning?
Again, just out of curiosity. I see your posts on here a lot and have wondered that.