ABOUT FREDDIE KITCHENS

I don’t know if the Browns will fire coach Freddie Kitchens.

If I had to bet, it would be on the team making a coaching change within a few days after Sunday’s season finale in Cincinnati.

My sense is the Browns know the promotion of Kitchens from offensive coordinator to head coach was a mistake. They know he has been overwhelmed at times. They know he’s not fully to blame for the team’s frustrating 6-9 season.

But what are the main reasons to retain Kitchens?

Because it looks bad for a team to fire a coach after a single season? Because the Browns have been firing too many coaches for too many years?

There needs to be a stronger argument than simple continuity, especially when the coach has continued to make major in-game mistakes late in the season.

Kitchens was promoted to head coach not because he was a great CEO type to run the operation. It was primarily because of his positive impact on Baker Mayfield and calling plays for the offense in the final eight games of 2018.

But there was a regression with Mayfield and the offense in 2019.

Not all the fault of Kitchens. But did he help it? As I wrote last week, he gave offensive coordinator Todd Monken very little responsibility when it came to shaping the offense. Kitchens refused to allow Monken a chance to call plays at any point, even when the offense stalled.

The players like Kitchens. They believe he is a good man. But do they respect him when it comes to matters of discipline?

From a barrage of penalties to some sideline outbursts between players and Kitchens, the team too often has had discipline issues.

I’m sure the Browns have seen the same problems.

That’s why I believe there will be a coaching change, but that’s not based on anything I know for sure.

ROOKIE COACHES CALLING PLAYS

I wondered how many rookie coaches also were controlling the offense?

The Chicago Tribune’s Teresa Walker had an answer in her excellent story about how the immediate success of Sean McVay with the Rams led to other teams letting first-year coaches call plays.

In addition to Kitchens, it’s happening in Cincinnati (Zac Taylor), Green Bay (Matt LaFeur) and Arizona (Kliff Kingsbury).

That’s four rookies doing it.

The results are mixed. The Browns are averaging 20.8 points, down from 22.4 a year ago. Here are the others: Cincinnati (16.4), Arizona (22.5) and Green Bay (23.5).

Lots of veteran coaches do it, including Sean Payton (New Orleans), Andy Reid (Kansas City), Mike Nagy (Chicago), Pat Shurmur (Giants), Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco), Adam Gase (Jets), Doug Pederson (Philadelphia) and McVay (Rams). There may be others, but the point is a lot of head coaches also serve as play-callers.

ONE & DONE

The last time the Browns fired a coach after one season was in 2013.

Rob Chudzinski was let go after ending the season on a 7-game losing streak. The final record was 4-12.

I favored keeping Chudzinski. He had terrible luck with quarterbacks. Brandon Weeden opened the season and was hurt. Then Brian Hoyer took over, won three games and blew out his knee.

Jason Campbell finished the season and Josh Gordon set team receiving records.

That season was when Trent Richardson was traded after two games. Willis McGahee ended up being main running, averaging 2.7 yards per game. That team had some talent, but terrible luck in terms of injuries.

These Browns did not face the same demanding circumstances.

THE FRONT OFFICE

As I’ve written, the front office took a gamble by bringing in Odell Beckham Jr. and Olivier Vernon from the New York Giants. Those trades didn’t pay off.

The offensive line needed at least one more viable starter. You can point to some other moves that were mistakes.

The front office gave a rookie head coach some very strong personalities to handle. Beckham is very strange in terms of his longing for attention and the impact that had on Kitchens and Mayfield.

Too often, they seemed preoccupied with getting him the ball rather than having a smooth operating offense. It’s an issue Kitchens or whomever coaches the team in 2020 will have to face. It’s also one created by the front office.

But I still like the John Dorsey front office. I want them to stay in place, but also stay away from too much risk-taking with character issues.

Furthermore, Dorsey pushed Kitchens as the head coach. That was his decision.

The other final candidate was Kevin Stefanski, who was the favorite of the analytics department.

Stefanski has had a good year calling plays for the Vikings. They are 10-5 and a playoff team. Stefanski could be a candidate for other jobs.

If the Browns do decide to change coaches, it would be interesting to see who leads the search and how it’s done.

But in terms of the big picture, the last thing the Browns need is to blow up everything from the front office to the coaching staff.

Dorsey has had more good drafts than bad, dating back to his time with the Kansas Chiefs. He deserves the chance to keep working on the roster.

IF THEY KEEP FREDDIE

If the Browns do keep Kitchens, I’m not sure what changes should be made.

Do they take away the play-calling, which was supposes to be best asset?

Hire a new defensive coordinator? Trade Beckham?

Certainly they need to draft linemen, on offense and defense. They need more discipline, they still rank No. 3 in penalties.

Every NFL teams loses a game or two that it shouldn’t, but the Browns have dumped three (Denver, Arizona and at Pittsburgh).

This season, the Browns have played a demanding schedule. They are 3-2 vs. team under .500 and 3-7 vs. teams over .500.