In 2011, when the Kansas City Chiefs were slugging it out after firing Todd Haley late in the season, an unexpected long-term candidate emerged. He was defensive-minded, understood the rhythms of the locker room and brought a mindset veteran leaders embraced. More importantly, he was winning, finishing the season 2-1 after Haley’s departure and breathing new life into the organization. So much so, he went from interim head coach to the chosen man when the season concluded.

His name was Romeo Crennel. And in Chiefs coaching lore, he’s known as the right interim choice in 2011 who became the wrong permanent head coach in 2012. Six years later, his one-season tenure (2-14) is the forgotten blip in team history, having been succeeded by Andy Reid in 2013 with little regret and zero second-guessing.

For the Cleveland Browns, this is a worthwhile piece of history to study. There is a Gregg Williams conundrum developing for the franchise. Once considered the unlikeliest of permanent hires when he was elevated to interim head coach in late October, he’s now sitting on a 5-2 record and riding a wave of Browns euphoria not seen since 2007. Cleveland fans can surely remember that last high point, when the team went 10-6 in (you guessed it) Romeo Crennel’s third season as head coach and appeared to be turning a corner. The Browns weren’t, of course. As it turns out, Crennel was the wrong head coaching hire in both Kansas City and Cleveland. That should be some food for thought for Browns fans, given that Crennel would later pull off a mini-rejuvenation with the Chiefs, convincing ownership he was the right man for the job when he actually wasn’t.

View photos Gregg Williams is 5-2 as Browns interim head coach. (Getty Images) More

At this critical juncture, falling into that kind of mistake is precisely what Cleveland doesn’t need. It’s why the Browns’ chief decision-makers – as unclear as they may be – have to look at Williams and remove the emotion lifting the organization right now. This comes down to one question, and it has nothing to do with a 5-2 spurt against mediocre teams.

Is Gregg Williams the right coach to pair with Baker Mayfield for the next 10 years?

The coach-player model the Browns seek

I can say with full confidence that the Browns are approaching their coaching search with that question at the forefront. If the answer to that long-term chemistry question leads to any doubt, the candidate in question is a nonstarter. There will certainly be a laundry-list of attributes that are important for the next head coach, but his match with Mayfield will be paramount.

This is what Cleveland is looking for:

Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.

Sean Payton and Drew Brees.

Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes.

Sean McVay and Jared Goff.

We can talk all we want about schemes, energy and leadership, but this search will begin with the viability of the next coach to fit with Mayfield for a decade or more. The kind of coach-quarterback relationship that can survive losing seasons, staff shuffling, coordinator departures, schematic tweaks, micro-rebuilds and any other stressful pitfalls. The Browns believe they have one-half of that equation for long-term success in Mayfield. Now the goal is finding the other half, without making a decision corrupted by emotion or familiarity.

Is Williams that coach? There are two important beliefs about the Browns process.

First, it’s unclear who is going to make the call on this one. Since Hue Jackson and Haley were fired, I’ve heard a few things about how the Browns are working internally right now. Initially, the word was that team owner Jimmy Haslam was going to make the final call on a head coach with general manager John Dorsey being the lone point man. But I’m not so sure about that anymore.

Dorsey clearly didn’t get his chosen man as the interim coach. Regardless of what anyone says publicly, I’m absolutely certain that Haley was Dorsey’s preference as the interim coach. And I think Haley didn’t ascend to that position because someone else had significant influence in the process.

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