CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Hue Jackson sat down in front of reporters after Browns practice Thursday and started talking about the weather, once again striking the pose of an innocent bystander amidst the Browns chaos.

Don't believe it.

Jackson is the cause of it, a coach who undermined the front office while failing to develop a quarterback, a coach who grabbed the ears of nervous owners and got them to bail on the future while somehow skirting blame for Sunday after Sunday when he doesn't get anywhere near the best out of his team.

Executive VP for football operations Sashi Brown was fired Thursday while owner Jimmy Haslam committed to Jackson for the 2018 season.

That means Jackson won.

He fought the battle for Haslam's blessing and the battle of public perception more effectively. If Jackson was half as good at coaching as he was at saving his own job and media manipulation, the Browns would be a playoff team.

Jackson denies it, of course, taking issue when I asked him Thursday about leaks that led to repeated stories this season designed to make the front office look bad.

"I don't deal in leaks," Jackson said during his news conference. "I've been doing this for quite a while. I don't know what you are referring to when you say 'leaks out of here.' This has been a leaky place for years. This is not the first time you have ever heard leaks out of the Cleveland Browns.

"Hopefully, some of that stuff will go away in time, but it is not going to go away when you are losing, that is for sure. If anything, it is going to ratchet up even more. I think you get that yourselves. I appreciate 'my agent, my this, my that,' but we don't deal in that way. I have never dealt in that way."

Jackson continued his point in the hallway, telling me that he went searching for the assistant that sent e-mails to NFL analyst Benjamin Allbright earlier this year that said Sashi Brown went home early on the night Jimmy Garoppolo was traded, a claim that has been disputed.

Jackson also made it clear he hasn't appreciated much of what I've written and asked him about. So that's important to note. Jackson denied any role in the leaks and disagrees with my view.

And my view is that he's harming the Browns.

* Keeping Jackson, firing Brown is worst choice for Browns

On the day when the other person leading this team was fired, Jackson was given a vote of confidence into next season. Why is firing Brown attached to keeping Jackson? It's illogical. And it doesn't happen unless Jackson has worked to make it happen.

Jackson, in fact, made the point for his own dismissal in his explanation of why he wouldn't need to create bad press for Sashi Brown.

He said the results are bad enough.

"Criticizing the front office? How would I make the front office look bad? I coach a football team. That right there is bad enough, 1-27 is bad enough," Jackson said. "I don't have to say anything. My agent doesn't have to say anything. Just look at our football team. I'm a part of that as I said earlier."

So why is he here? What's Jackson's case for himself?

"I never thought that I should not be here," Jackson said, "but I'm not the judge of why Sashi is not here or not. That is something that you would have to take up with Jimmy."

That will be taken up with Haslam, who is expected to meet with reporters Friday. But Jackson's approach Thursday was an insult to Browns fans.

After a year of stories about coach and front office infighting, for Jackson to act as if he's above it all is to ask a beaten down fan base to ignore reality.

When you win, Hue, at least don't insult our intelligence. Because this is what the Browns are left with now. Jimmy Haslam made his choice.

After investing in a front office plan that he knew would take three years and would require some patience, Haslam sided with a supposed quarterback guru who has done nothing but ruin the confidence of DeShone Kizer while failing to improve his accuracy or mechanics.

Jackson has waffled wildly between declaring Kizer the hope for the city, then benching him, the same way he benched Cody Kessler in a panic last year. But it was Jackson who was all-in on Kizer starting the year, who anointed him the starter when the quarterback was really a value pick at No. 52 in the second round.

Jackson's own plan varied week to week, moment to moment. He took veiled shots at the roster while accepting or denying the basics of the long-term front office plan, depending on what suited him best.

At the very least, Sashi Brown's plan had the long-term health of the Browns in mind. It wasn't always perfect, but you could see the underlying goal.

Just like you can see Jackson's goal. Saving himself.

And then lying to us about it.

"I didn't win a power [struggle], I'm sorry that you feel that way," Jackson said during the news conference when I asked why we couldn't all just be honest and admit what happened here with Jackson, Brown and Haslam.

"I respect that you feel that it was a power struggle. I don't look at it that way. I look at it as I was coaching a football team and trying to do the best that I can. I think everybody is trying to do the best they can. You look at it that way. I don't see a power struggle.

"I have a contract that was longer than two years. However you want to look at that, that is totally up to you, but I don't look at it as a power struggle. I think where we are today is the organization made a decision to do something different. I stand behind that wholeheartedly, grateful for the opportunity to still be here and grateful for the opportunity to coach this team and that is what I am going to do."

And the Browns are worse off for it.