Monday leftovers

The 2019 season started and concluded with a thud for the Browns. And it wasn’t much different in between the 43-13 thrashing by the Tennessee Titans in the season opener at home and the 33-23 embarrassment in Cincinnati Sunday.

The improbable 40-25 victory over the Ravens in Baltimore in week four, which forged a tie at the top of the AFC North, now seems like such a long time ago.

Little did Browns Nation, or anyone for that matter, realize the Browns had peaked.

It was clearly the highlight of a season that careened out of control in the rugged first half, regained its balance midway through the softer second half and resumed careening down the stretch.

It culminated with embarrassing losses to the Arizona Cardinals and Bengals, teams that finished with worse records, teams they should have defeated. You can add losses to Denver, the Los Angeles Rams, New England, the second Pittsburgh game and Seattle to that list.

Each of those games was winnable and bumbling coaching by the inexperienced Freddie Kitchens was a major factor. Losing two games to undrafted quarterbacks who had never started a National Football League game was inexcusable.

Kitchens’ stubborn insistence that he call all the plays for the offense during the game served as a hurdle, catering the offense to suit his philosophy and not the personnel.  Most successful coordinators choreograph offenses and defenses around players’ strengths.

The same situation occurred on defense with coordinator Steve Wilks opening the season with a 4-2-5 look (the nickel) to offset the pass-happy league the NFL has become. It was, as was Kitchens’ unorthodox approach to crafting his offense, an abysmal failure.

The sum total of their efforts was Kitchens’ dismissal, albeit sloppily handled by the team, late Sunday. It was inevitable that would be the conclusion to this disappointing season along the lakefront.

Fans of this football team deserve better. Much, much better. This rabid fan base has maintained remarkable resilience through the past two decades and will be rewarded one of these years with stability to match their increasing core of talent.

The challenged Browns front office, which embodies Murphy’s Law on a daily basis, edges closer to the day when the light will come on and it will finally do the right thing.

It must avoid, as General Manager John Dorsey did not, making the wrong decisions for the wrong reasons. Dorsey chose the untried and nowhere-close-to-being-qualified Kitchens because he connected to Baker Mayfield last season while serving as interim offensive coordinator.

Truth be known, quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese helped shepherd Mayfield through his rookie season last season. Kitchens received just about all the praise because the offense perked up significantly when he took over fired coordinator Todd Haley’s offense.

Dorsey apparently did not factor that into the equation when making his final decision, never taking into consideration his talented roster needed a firm hand, a role the undisciplined Kitchens never embraced.

The problems that cropped up early in the season never disappeared. In fact, the new coach never got a handle on them and they worsened. Poor game management and strange play calling joined lack of discipline on that list.

It all added up to what happened down the stretch – four losses in the final five games, including the last three in a row – and the ultimate removal of Kitchens to prevent further damage to the product.

Now it’s on to a new head coach. Another possible question, at least according to rumors, involves the front office and whether there will be a reconstruct with Dorsey’s position speculated in those rumors.

Unlike last season, when only the head coaching position was unsettled, this season promises to produce more fireworks as the Haslams continue their struggle to find the magic that will turn this franchise in the right direction.

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Nick Chubb can thank his ex-head coach/playcaller for losing out on the league rushing title to Derrick Henry of the Tennessee Titans on the final Sunday of the regular season.

Chubb, who either led the league or ranked in the top three in rushing all season, had a 124-yard lead (1.453-1,329) on Henry entering the final weekend. Kitchens, who often second-guessed himself for not using Chubb more, called his number just 13 for a mere 41 yards against a Bengals defense determined to stop him.

Henry, meanwhile, carried the ball 32 times for 211 yards and three touchdowns in a big victory over Houston, ending the season with a 146-yard margin over Chubb for the rushing title. Kitchens fed Chubb just 28 times for 86 yards in the final two games.

Chubb managed to maintain his lofty position among the rushing leaders despite working behind one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL. Henry was fortunate to play behind one of the league’s best units.

A telling stat that enabled Chubb to challenge for the rushing title was his incredible number of yards after contact, piling up 1,051 of his 1,494 yards, or nearly 68%, after initial hits. Henry racked up just 893 yards after contact.

Chubb’s seven games with 100 yards or more was one better than Henry, who rallied to win the title with 896 yards in his last six games and scored 18 touchdowns overall to Chubb’s eight.

It’s safe to say with an improved offensive line, which should be the club’s top priority in the college draft and free agency this offseason, Chubb will have a better shot at the title next season.

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It’s also safe to say to say now that the 2019 season is history that Baker Mayfield was humbled. And that’s not easy to do. This season knocked an awful lot of brashness and cockiness out of the brash and cocky second-year quarterback.

The 2020 season will see him enter with a brand new and rather large chip, more like a boulder, on his shoulder. And based on previous seasons, he responds quite well to that situation.

In order to be rebound from his nightmarish season, he has to drop the notion that he knows what went wrong and knows how to fix it. No he doesn’t. Playing in the NFL is a constant learning experience. The sooner he realizes that, the better off he’ll be. He is not, nor will he ever be, a know-it-all.

The most grizzled veterans in the league learn from their mistakes on an annual basis. Mayfield needs to hear that from the likes of Drew Brees, Ben Roethlisberger, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, championship quarterbacks who can provide a greater understanding of where is headed.

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It will be interesting to see whether Kevin Stefanski interviews again for the vacant head coaching position. The Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator was a semifinalist a year ago when Dorsey opted for Kitchens.

It makes no sense for him to do it all over again with the likelihood of being rejected twice by the same team. Unless, that is, he is absolutely assured the job is his before he sits down with the Browns.

He certainly is not going to interview any differently than he did the first time. The Browns know all about him based on that interview. What else can be gleaned that they don’t already know?

Besides, the field of candidates his season will be larger and much more experienced than last year’s crop. Which means the odds work against Stefanski being the man more now than then.

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Finally . . . Comparing some season stats with last season: Mayfield completed just 59.4% of his passes this season with 22 touchdowns and 21 interceptions, Last season, he threw a league rookie record 27 touchdown passes with 14 picks and a 63.8 completion percentage. . . . The defense this season surrendered 2,315 yards on the ground (145 a game), compared to last season’s 2,163 (135). . . . The defense picked off 17 passes last season, three more than this season. . . . The much more opportunistic defense last season produced a +7 turnover ratio compared to this season’s -8. . . . This season’s pass rush produced 38 sacks (only four in the last five games, just one on the last three)) to 37 in 2018. It obviously would have been much higher this season had Myles Garrett not crowned Pittsburgh’s Mason Rudolph with the quarterback’s helmet. . . .  And finally, the offense this season totaled 5,445 yards (340 a game), far worse than last season’s 5,900 (369).