The Cleveland Browns have a lot of problems on their hands right now that they need to try and fix during the offseason. But, the biggest issue is that their head coach Freddie Kitchens, who they must get rid of. If the Browns were smart, they wouldn't late until the end of the season; they would have made this move over a month ago.
The Browns shocked a lot of people when they hired Kitchens. But the organization was confident with what he had done with Baker Mayfield as a rookie. During 2018 with Kitchens as the offensive coordinator (after the Hugh Jackson firing), the Browns averaged 23.8 points, and they were successful in the red zone scoring on 79.2 percent of their chances inside the 20.
Mayfield also seemed to be comfortable with Kitchens calling the shots as a rookie, and that was enough for Kitchens to be elevated.
This season, the Browns offense is averaging 21 points per game, which ranks 21st in the NFL. It could be worse, but the expectation was with Mayfield and Kitchens working together for their second year, the team would take a step back.
Instead of progressing, Mayfield has taken a step back and hasn't looked nearly as comfortable. He has completed only 59.2% of his passes for 3,109 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions. In the red zone, the Browns have had issues scoring touchdowns doing so on 53.12 percent of their trips there.
The Browns have also had other, non-record, or quarterback; things happen with Kitchens in charge that have raised some eyebrows. There was the incident against the Pittsburgh Steelers, where Myles Garrett swung Mason Rudolph's helmet at him, hitting him in the head.
Though not a fireable offense, Kitchens made the incident worse by wearing a shirt that read, “Pittsburgh started it.”
When Kitchens was asked about wearing the shirt, he doubled down and said he had no regrets wearing it.
“I wore a T-shirt. I wore a jacket with it. My daughters wanted me to wear the shirt. And I’d wear it again,” Kitchens said via the LA Times. “I put a jacket on, I covered it up. I took a picture with a fan. That was as simple as that. T-shirt didn’t cause us to give up 40-yard passes.”
It would be different if it were a player wearing that shirt, but it's something a coach of an NFL team shouldn't be doing. All things considered that have happened on and off the field this year, the Browns need to find someone else to lead this team going forward.
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