BEREA, Ohio -- When Cleveland Browns coach Freddie Kitchens sent the offense onto the field, trailing by 17 with just under eight minutes to play Sunday, he knew the Browns weren’t going to finish that possession with a punt. He was going for it.

His team didn’t know that. That was a problem.

Defining the correct problem is one of the problems with evaluating the Browns and Kitchens. Everyone is so mad about so many things, I think many are upset with the wrong things.

For example, taking a 5-yard penalty after the punt team ran onto the field on fourth-and-11, and allowing the offense to regroup and saving a timeout, was the best solution to the issue at hand. The problem was that the punt team members at the start of the drive should have been told to glue themselves to the bench. And that wasn’t communicated.

“It should have, yes, which is my fault," Kitchens said Monday.

There are logistics at play with Kitchens’ sideline decisions, and he doesn’t seem inclined to change them. He’s certainly not giving up play calling, nor do I think he should.

“It’s not happening. I’m calling the plays. I am the head coach. That is not happening,” Kitchens said.

But he has to get somebody to help him spread the word to the offense and punt team before that drive. He has to get people he can trust in his ear so he doesn’t burn two timeouts on two challenges that had no chance of succeeding, as happened Sunday in that 27-13 loss at New England.

“I think we have a pretty good setup in the box. Those guys, they give their opinion pretty quickly," Kitchens said.

So he challenged a spot on a Patriots first down, and he challenged a pass-interference call when Antonio Callaway set a pick for Jarvis Landry that was too far downfield. Both challenges seemed clear on TV reply that they wouldn’t work.

“You just have to go off what the rule says and try to make a calculated risk versus the reward,” Kitchens said of the pick play challenge, "and that’s what I did in that situation.”

The best solution would be for the 2-5 Browns to get to the point where challenges aren’t so tense and necessary, and where fourth-down decisions when they’re down 17 aren’t so scrutinized.

That’s where I think we’re seeing some of the wrong problems with Kitchens. What’s putting the Browns in these holes isn’t really about the coach. Or certainly, not all about the coach.

That’s why I think any suggestions about making a coaching change are totally wrong right now.

“It really doesn’t concern me,” Kitchens said when I asked him about his job status. “I’ve never had a problem finding a job. I never had a problem getting this job. So all you have to do is evaluate the tape. We’re getting beat by what? Turnovers and penalties. So do coaches affect penalties?”

Kitchens had steadfastly maintained he doesn’t coach penalties. But if they’re widespread, and the Browns have made the point that different guys have made mistakes at different times, then maybe you could put them on the coaches. Kitchens comes back to player focus, and he made a reference during his news conference to players running after false starts during training camp. Maybe he’ll employ that again.

“There has to be some kind of consequence,” Kitchens said.

I also think he should start taking away playing time from the repeat offenders, as he did with left tackle Greg Robinson. I’ll get into that in another story, because I think there are several lineup changes that could be made.

But a tougher issue is what you do with someone like left guard Joel Bitonio, who had one of his worst games Sunday. He got flipped on a block when he was supposed to attack the defender and take him down, and the result was that he kicked the ball out of Nick Chubb’s hands for a fumble that New England returned for a touchdown. On a screen, he got beat inside and called for a hold as he reached back to grab the pass rusher, negating a big gain. And he missed the block on the Patriots’ defensive end that led to an interception on a shovel pass.

Bitonio is a good football player. He’s been the glue on a disheveled line, and he was starting next to someone he had never played with before in left tackle Justin McCray. He may be trying to look out for others and as a result, missing his own assignments.

“Joel will come back from it, and he will have a much better game next week," Kitchens said. "That is all I’m going to say about that.”

You can’t do anything other than weather that storm. Same with Chubb, who fumbled twice. Coaches can get on the second-year back, who has been the most consistent part of the offense, but he’s staying on the field. He fumbled on the Bitonio flip and again on a long run when he maybe should have shifted the ball to his outside arm. But in the rain, he might have been reluctant to risk that. Instead, it got punched out.

Chubb had a three-year fumble-less streak before the Seattle loss, and if that streak was still intact, honestly, the Browns might have won the last two games. That’s not blaming Chubb for the losses. He’s busting his hump and he loves the Browns. But he’s made a few mistakes.

The same could be said for his coach.

“Here’s what I told the guys,” Kitchens said to me. “We just gotta be there when it turns. Because it’s gonna turn. You’ve just got to be there when it does.”

I don’t think Kitchens is overmatched. I think he’s caught up in the moment at times. But the Browns were done in Sunday by the two Chubb fumbles that turned what could have been a 7-3 Browns lead into a 10-0 New England lead before the Browns had a single penalty accepted against them. The penalties affected the game, but they didn’t lose them the game. The personal fouls that loomed large in the opener have disappeared.

“Myles Garrett has had six penalties this year -- five of them came in the first two games,” Kitchens said. "So he did something to correct his mistakes. We need more guys doing that.”

The turnovers that occurred Sunday weren’t the same Baker Mayfield misreads or tipped passes from early games. So there were penalties and turnovers Sunday. But if your best offensive player and best offensive lineman play a different game, everything might change. It’s reasonable to think the two of them won’t have another game like this.

If you believe that, and you believe another few minor lineup adjustments could be made (or a trade for left tackle Trent Williams finally consummated), and then you consider the fact that the Browns gained 5.3 yards per play Sunday and the Patriots gained 4.8 ... well, you might see where there are not major problems.

Some of this is on Kitchens. Not all of it. The national hyperbole about his fitness to be the head coach will continue until the Browns win again, which has to be Sunday at Denver, where the Broncos will be playing without starting quarterback Joe Flacco. Kitchens has to fix his own details. He must demand that players do the same, or risk losing their jobs. But let’s dispense for now with the idea of Kitchens losing his.

“Everything about the program should reflect on me, and I will accept it," Kitchens said, "but I’ll also have a hand in fixing it.”

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