CLEVELAND (92.3 The Fan) – FirstEnergy Stadium was a sea of orange Sunday at kickoff but those were empty chairs.

The parking lots were half empty too.

The fans that did show up carried creative signs, wore paper bags over their heads or were rooting for the Bengals.

After watching their team fall to an NFL-worst 2-10, Browns fans have had enough and they want owner Jimmy Haslam to start firing people, yesterday, starting with head coach Mike Pettine, who looked beaten worse than his team did following the 37-3 clobbering that was just administered by the Cincinnati Bengals.

While Pettine spoke of “positives” after the game, the only positive for him is that he may not have much longer to put up with this nonsense, and it is nonsense in every sense of the word.

The harsh truth is that the moment CEO Joe Banner was shown the door and the power structure within the organization was changed to put Pettine, general manager Ray Farmer and team president Alec Scheiner on equal footing by independently answering to Haslam, the Browns became a ticking time bomb.

Pettine is a football coach, not a scout, babysitter or marketing savant.

His in-game management leaves much to be desired – see the final 50 seconds against Baltimore and the end of the first half Sunday – but that is a skill that can be perfected with experience. Except that low-hanging fruit of criticism is not the primary issue at hand.

The issue is trust and relationships.

They can sing Kumbaya from the “same hymnal” publicly all they want, but actions speak louder than words – or in this case a song – and it is clear Pettine and Farmer do not see eye to eye. Just look at who is and isn’t active on gameday or who is or isn’t getting playing time.

Another major problem for Pettine is that the team appears to have tuned him and his coaches out – especially on the defensive side of the ball. Those issues reared their ugly heads starting in week 1, well before all of the injuries even set in. The margins of defeat following the OT loss to Denver on Oct. 18 have been by 18, 14, 21, 21, 6 and 34 since.

Receiver Brian Hartline, who played through a thigh bruise and limped out of the locker room, was so disgusted after the game he declined to speak with reporters. Not out of malice for the media but because he didn’t want to put his coaches, teammates or the organization on blast.

Linebacker Christian Kirksey tried to remove Bengals running back Jeremy Hill from the stands and drew a 15-yard penalty for doing so after Hill scored a touchdown. Kirksey had enough of the clown show.

The Browns could use a few more Hartline’s and Kirksey’s on the roster. A few more Josh McCown’s too. This team lacks leadership and heart. Plain and simple.

Farmer’s resume as general manager in 2 offseasons is ghastly. Entrusting him with a top-3 draft pick next April or allowing him to reconstruct the roster going forward is organizational suicide.

According to multiple sources, the culture within the organization is as toxic as it’s ever been. That is quite the accomplishment because it’s been pretty ugly before – see Phil Savage v. John Collins or Savage v. Romeo Crennel as exhibits A and B.

Scheiner, described by the GM in a press conference as “a controversial figure” did his job. The logo, uniforms and stadium are done. The financial fortunes of the franchise have been reversed and the Browns’ spot in the modern business world of the NFL has been established. There is nothing more for him to accomplish here in his arena of expertise and that is the legal and business side of the game – not football personnel.

The current plan to build the team and win is unknown. The structure and leadership of the franchise is not working and replacing 1 or 2 of the legs will not solve the actual problem.

There is only 1 way for Haslam to fix the Browns: tear it all down – the entire front office and roster and begin the painful, arduous 2-5 year rebuild that fans dread. Be open and honest with fans. Admit your mistakes and move forward. Do not sell winning today or in 2016. Warn them that many more losses will come before wins do.

Then hire the right people and give them whatever title and amount on a check it takes to bring them here.

One person should to handle the business side of the organization completely independent of football. Then hire someone to oversee the football side – including hiring and overseeing the general manager and head coach. Do extensive, deep background checks on them and do not take the league office in New York’s recommendations and simply run with it. If need be, add a CEO that the top business executive and top football executive report to.

Trade what few assets the team has – if it means dealing Joe Thomas, Joe Haden and others to collect as many draft picks as possible then so be it.

This was the plan that Eric Mangini tried – and failed – to implement in 2008 and the same one that Tom Heckert tried to build on in 2010. The Browns have had the assets – see 7 first round draft picks in the last 4 years – but wasted them all.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

This is a process that should’ve begun a month ago but with 4 weeks left in the season, better late than never.

Fans wanted Pettine gone by Monday but if Haslam makes such a move be it Monday or on Jan. 3 based simply on emotion and keeping his paying customers happy, then he is the bigger fool and the Browns are forever doomed.

Change is coming again.

It is required and it also needs to be sweeping and resolute.