According to Chris Mortensen of ESPN, the Cleveland Browns are expected to fire head coach Rob Chudzinski after just one season following a 4-12 year that saw three different quarterbacks and five different running backs. The Browns had started the season 3-2, only to lose 10 of their next 11 games and including their last seven.
The Browns are clearly holding the first-time head coach responsible for the team’s sixth straight season with 11 or more losses. Despite starting the season with Brandon Weeden at quarterback, the Browns got solid efforts from Brian Hoyer (59.4 completion percentage, 615 yards, 5 TD/3 INT) in two games and Jason Campbell (56.9 percentage, 1,775 yards, 10 TD/7 INT) and finished 12th in the league in passing. After the team traded away running back Trent Richardson, however, they never managed a semblance of a running game, finishing the season ranked 27th in rushing. Willis McGahee was the Browns’ rushing leader with just 377 yards.
Their defense was significantly improved in 2014, however, ranking ninth in passing defense and 16th in rushing defense.
Certainly on-field personnel moves will follow but the Browns are sending a strong message by firing a first year coach. The new front office is ready to make big, highly controversial moves, even undoing their own deals, to turn the perennially struggling franchise around. To do that, the team will have to find its eighth head coach since 2000.
Chudzinski, who was previously the offensive coordinator in Carolina, also worked as an assistant coach with the Browns, Chargers, and the University of Miami.
