Black Monday

[oneinchpunch]

@JeffDarlington: Mike Shanahan just arrived at Redskins Park. Dan Snyder is also here. Here we go.

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Phil Savage, ex-Browns GM, on WTAM just now: "Browns' new regime makes Randy Lerner look like a Rooney."

[oneinchpunch]

Ian Rapoport: The #Vikings have fired coach Leslie Frazier.

[oneinchpunch]

Redskins coach Mike Shanahan and his coaching staff are out, per source. (@MikeJonesWaPo 1st reported)

[Heatmiser]

If the Schwartz gets fired, I expect Whiz to take that job. He did not fare well in Az without a veteran QB. Why repeat that in Minny, Houston, Cleveland? I would say Redskins, too, but they have the Snyder factor going on. If Whiz leaves, I expect him to take Reich with him as OC, which will force the Chargers hand if they want to keep him.

Here in snowy Cleveburg, fans cannot believe Chud got the axe. He only got one year, was the selection of the current braintrust, was a local boy made good, had to suffer through a lot of questionable personnel moves and terrible QB play. The Browns are leaving all the assistants in place (for now). They are all meeting at Browns HQ right now. Some saying Norv or Horton might get the gig. Others saying the Browns wanted Chip Kelly and did not get him, saw how successful he has been in Philly, and want another Chip Kelly. Who would want to coach a team with a chaotic front office, no QB, and an owner under investigation by the FBI for fraud??

TG

[oneinchpunch]

Roto:

According to the NFL Network, one "breaking point" for fired HC Rob Chudzinski was his refusal to hold Brandon Weeden and Greg Little "accountable."
A couple weeks back, Chud was reportedly told to cut a player. He refused, which apparently was a sign that he doesn't do well with accountability. Perhaps Chud is a natural coordinator rather than head coach, but he was given Weeden, Brian Hoyer and Jason Campbell as his quarterbacks, and Josh Gordon, Little and Davone Bess as his top-three wideouts. He benched Weeden repeatedly and had to keep rolling with Little due to the dearth of talent on the roster. We're still waiting for a more logical explanation for why Chud was only given one year on the job.

[SDFan]

Roto:

According to the NFL Network, one "breaking point" for fired HC Rob Chudzinski was his refusal to hold Brandon Weeden and Greg Little "accountable."
A couple weeks back, Chud was reportedly told to cut a player. He refused, which apparently was a sign that he doesn't do well with accountability. Perhaps Chud is a natural coordinator rather than head coach, but he was given Weeden, Brian Hoyer and Jason Campbell as his quarterbacks, and Josh Gordon, Little and Davone Bess as his top-three wideouts. He benched Weeden repeatedly and had to keep rolling with Little due to the dearth of talent on the roster. We're still waiting for a more logical explanation for why Chud was only given one year on the job.

he hired NOrv! I'd fire his ass just for that!

[Geezbolt]

When I look at Jimmy Haslam, Daniel Snyder and Jerry Jones, I appreciate Dean Spanos more and more.

[Maverick]

When I look at Jimmy Haslam, Daniel Snyder and Jerry Jones, I appreciate Dean Spanos more and more.

EXACTLY, Geez.....how could you not?

I really don't understand all of the Spanos hate around here. It's not like they aren't trying to build a winner here. Hell, I don't even mind the nepotism, as the kids actually seem more football-savvy than Deano.

[SDFan]

I appreciate how Dean made decisive moves on a new regime early in the offseason- then has stayed in the background all year while they found their way. Despite the bitiching about John/AG and Nepotism and firing TT after his 1st draft and the game being "too big" for McCoy, it looks like we have a bright future now.

:carlton:

[oneinchpunch]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000306926/article/rob-chudzinski-firing-infuriates-many-cleveland-browns-players

Rob Chudzinski firing infuriates many Cleveland Browns players

In a drastic move that virtually no one saw coming -- but which, in retrospect, seemed like a page out of the Factory of Sadness playbook -- the Cleveland Browns fired first-year coach Rob Chudzinski on Sunday night, hours after the completion of a season that was supposed to usher in a new era of patience and stability.

Yes, this was a shocker, the Browns' 4-12 record notwithstanding. The move incurred the ire of fans, numerous NFL coaches and executives (one NFC general manager called it "a shame for the NFL") alike. Browns players, especially, were quick to vent their frustration, with more than a half-dozen of them expressing their dismay over Chudzinski's firing and what it told them about the state of the long-struggling franchise.

"This organization is a joke," one Cleveland veteran told NFL.com. "I'm completely in the dark about this. Please (rip them). I feel for Chud. He was good to us."

Added another veteran: "We are so dysfunctional. These billionaires need to pick somebody and stay with them. These aren't girlfriends. You can't dump them if they (fail to please you) one time. Too many dominoes fall and (screw stuff) up when that happens. This is highly upsetting."

While Chudzinski had lost 10 of his last 11 games after a 3-2 start, players were quick to point out some of the mitigating factors. For one thing, despite the promising early season play of journeyman and Cleveland-area native Brian Hoyer, the Browns' quarterback situation was a volatile mess, with a prior regime's first-round draft pick (Brandon Weeden) and an inconsistent veteran (Jason Campbell) manning the position after Hoyer suffered a season-ending torn ACL.

The Browns also sent strong signals that they were ignoring short-term gratification in the name of building for the future, most notably trading starting running back Trent Richardson -- the third overall pick in the 2012 draft -- to the Indianapolis Colts for a 2014 first-round choice.


Throw in the strongly stated rhetoric voiced by the new regime, primarily owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner, about patience, stability and continuity, and Chudzinski's firing appeared unfair at best and hypocritical at worst.

"Tremendous mistake, just epic," one Cleveland player said. "It makes no sense. Everything we did this year was setting up the future -- trading draft picks, trading players for next year's picks, playing young guys toward the end of the year to see what they look like, sitting older guys at the end to get them healthy (Joe Haden, Phil Taylor, John Hughes) when they could have played.

"This is such a rash decision. They just (expletive) hired him last year! The whole year we were making all decisions for the future and now you're pissed the coach didn't win this year? What the (heck)? It was like a big experiment with players and scheme. I think it came from upstairs, and then they are surprised we didn't win more games? Yes, it's all about patience and then fire your coach Year 1. This blows."

Said another Browns player: "We had a disappointing season, but it wasn't like we invested heavy into this year anyways. Trading away our starting running back was not the way to win games today."

According to NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport, the team's brain trust -- Haslam, Banner and general manager Mike Lombardi -- felt that the Browns were not improving or responding to Chudzinski and his assistants (all of whom, curiously, were reportedly retained, at least in the short term). Further, according to Rapoport, when the front office recently shared its concerns with Chudzinski, he did not seem to believe that the team's problems were severe.

The front office also collectively felt that losing to a talent-deficient team like the Jaguars (32-28 on Dec. 1), and the lopsided nature of many of the defeats during the team's 0-7 stretch to end the season, were black marks against Chudzinski.


When these sentiments were relayed to one Browns veteran, he replied, "It's kinda weird that's what they think. I would tend to disagree. We lost the last couple of games by a wide margin because injuries to our best players built up. Before then, we had Chicago, New England and Jacksonville down in the fourth quarter."

Later, in response to a statement issued by the Browns in the official announcement of Chudzinski's firing, the veteran said, "Does this mean every year we are not 'consistently competitive' they will fire the coach? This is awful."

It's especially unnerving given the earlier preachings of Haslam, a former Pittsburgh Steelers minority owner who purchased the Browns from Randy Lerner in October of 2012, and Banner, the longtime Philadelphia Eagles president Haslam installed as his CEO. Even before blowing out the prior administration -- president Mike Holmgren, general manager Tom Heckert and coach Pat Shurmur -- Haslam spoke of stability and continuity as his guiding principles, saying he hoped to model the Browns after the Steelers.

Those tenets were often echoed by Banner, who became the public face of the franchise after Haslam's trucking company was embroiled in a federal investigation amid allegations of deliberately withheld rebates from customers.

Now, the "carousel" that Haslam and Banner were hoping to eradicate is back in play once again.

"Yeah, it's hard to say (Chudzinski) got a fair shake when usually it takes a few years to get things established and see dividends, especially with all the quarterback changes we had," another Browns player said. "There's a reason coaches typically get a few years before changes are made, right? The whole thing just seems odd."

Said yet another Cleveland player: "It's a crazy league, man. I didn't see it coming. There's just too much turnover in this organization ... always looking over your shoulder."

In fairness, while firing a coach after his first year is far from the norm, it is not unprecedented. Mike Mularkey was let go by the Jacksonville Jaguars after a single, 2-14 season in 2012, and the Oakland Raiders dumped Hue Jackson despite an 8-8 campaign in 2011, his first year as a head coach. The Seahawks deep-sixed Jimmy Mora following a 5-11 campaign in '09, and even Pete Carroll -- the man who replaced Mora in Seattle -- was a prior victim of the one-and-done stigma, losing his job after a 6-10 season with the New York Jets in 1994.

Banner's regime, however, was supposed to be different, especially considering his past: After Andy Reid went 5-11 in 1999, his first year as the Eagles' coach, Banner and Philly owner Jeffrey Lurie never flinched. Reid proceeded to win 11 games or more in each of his next five seasons -- and take Philadelphia to five NFC championship games and a Super Bowl over the next 13 campaigns.

All of this had Browns players and others in NFL circles theorizing that something "bizarre," as one AFC offensive coordinator put it, must have taken place to compel Chudzinski's dismissal. Said one Browns player: "I've gotta get to the bottom of this. Something big must have happened behind the scenes."

If nothing else, it made for an exceptionally surreal postgame scene following the Browns' 20-7 loss to the Steelers at Heinz Field on Sunday. Told of the reports that Chudzinski's firing was imminent about an hour after the game, one Browns player texted NFL.com, "I'm on the wrong bus (to the airport) and I'm very happy I don't have to sit on Bus 1 (with Chudzinski) in awkwardness."

Now, in the wake of this stunning move, he and his teammates are left to wonder if the wheels are coming off.

[oneinchpunch]

Jason Cole: Told by an agent recently, if Redskins put AJ Smith in charge of personnel, many head coach candidates will be scared off.

[oneinchpunch]

Lions ownership meeting with HC Jim Schwartz right now...