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Cleveland Browns' front office's self-inflicted wounds

Anyone who has ever watched "The Three Stooges" show knows it's as violent as the AFC North and that all of the injuries are self-inflicted.

Now that the Browns' front office has hired a head coach, they can begin their methodical search for a credibility repairman who is a proven winner.

Mike Pettine hadn't even been the Browns' head coach for even 48 hours when there was a difference of opinion with Joe Banner. During the presser announcing Pettine's hire, Banner corrected reporters, stating Pettine was given a 5-year contract. The following day in a radio interview, Pettine emphatically said he did not have a 5-year contract. For clarification, Pettine was asked twice and twice said he did not have a 5-year contract. Not that it matters when you're dealing with a front office that fired it's first coach with a multi-year deal after less than a year.

The contract contradiction follows Pettine's new boss joking that Pettine was the newly hired third stooge and then moments after introducing Pettine, telling reporters how he was bummed he couldn't interview Quinn a second time. All of which came hours after Banner and Haslam reportedly made one last phone call to Josh McDaniels to see if he might be interested in the job again, after dropping out.

This is the same Josh McDaniels we were led to believe was never one of the Browns top choices. We're to believe it was just a coincidence that days after McDaniels withdrew, the Browns decided to interview Ken Whisenhunt again, after Banner just got done saying they wouldn't interview anyone from the previous annual coaching search. Maybe Banner had some analytics that showed last years rejects look better at closing time after one of your top choices tells you thanks, but no thanks. Some of the people who bought the line that McDaniels withdrew when told he wasn't the top choice, may now be owners of Florida swamp land and signing up for one of those great Pilot Flying J rebate deals.

25 days to find a coach doesn't bother me as much as the self-serving spin that came from 'league sources' and the Browns front office... which you get the feeling, sometimes, was one and the same.

I'm not going to say "same old Cleveland Browns" because I know it bugs Haslam like a federal grand jury hearing wire taps about "Cost Plussin" truckin' companies. No, I'm not going to say it because the Cleveland Browns are the team that now plays under the name "Ravens" and won two Super Bowls for Baltimore. Instead I'll say "same old Cleveland Banners" 'cause "same old Cleveland Lerners-Haslams-Banners" is a mouthful.

Another moment of lame levity at the Pettine intro, was Haslam telling reporters that he liked Pettine because he has a strong Cowher like jawline. BREAKING NEWS!!! Chud firing mystery solved! Chud was fired because he has a weaker jawline profile than Cowher...a coach who would never work under Haslam's front office management team and setup...ditto Chuckie Gruden.

With the words ''tough' and ''aggressive' being used in the presser as often as Haslam says "candidly" you can't help but take it as an inference that Chud wasn't tough and aggressive or knew how to win. Anyone who sits outside his living room window and watches Browns games in the snow, as Chud did, is tough. Anyone who played T.E. for Miami U. is tough. Anyone who had to deal with the garbage roster Banner produced is tough. Any coach who went for it on fourth down as often as Chud did is aggressive. When Chud was O.C. the Browns record was 10-6...he clearly knows how to win.

The other dubious suggestion is that Chud was fired because he and Norv misjudged Hoyer. Swiss cheese has fewer holes than that theory. When camp started Hoyer wasn't on the roster. Banner and Lombardi signed Campbell first, then Hoyer late. Any coach would have had Weeden-1. Campbell-2, Hoyer-3, at that point. It's been forgotten Chud played Hoyer the entire fourth preseason game. It's been forgotten that Weeden actually played well in the preseason and everyone wanted to see if his performance would carry over into the regular season. When Chud started Hoyer over Campbell he pointed out how well Hoyer played in the last preseason game. So I don't buy the theory that Chud and Norv were slow to grasp Hoyer's potential. The fourth preseason starting roster and game tape says otherwise. I'm sticking with the "Haslam had a hissy fit and it backfired" theory.

Another word that kept being used at Pettine's intro was "accountability." Chud is accused of not holding players accountable by not cutting Little or benching Bess. For all we know he continued playing Bess because Banner traded for him and gave him a $3 million extension. Haslam and Banner talk a lot about accountability, but when Banner was asked about Bess and who was accountable for that blunder, he answered with his typical Banner-speak and then refused to discuss it further. Same old Cleveland Banners!

Accountablity enforcer Jimmy Haslam said he knew nothing about the Bess blunder. He was too busy knowing nothing about the felony scams allegedly being carried out by his sales reps under the supervision of his top executives.

Haslam also said the idea that the Browns job was considered toxic was a creation of the media and that none of the football people he talked with thought that way. He clearly didn't talk to any of the football people who were among the very people who were saying the Browns situation was undesirable and toxic.

Mike Pettine is clearly a capable coach who's earned his new job. But I fear his biggest impediment to winning in the bloody nosed AFC North, may not be the Bengals, Ravens or Steelers, but the unaccountable front office he now works for.

Banner has said fans have a right to be skeptical until the Browns prove otherwise. Call me skeptical.

GO TRIBE!