Time to lead the head coaching candidates into the starting gate for Browns?

It's over. You can come out now. The most dysfunctional team in the NFL put the finishing touches/blemishes on a chaotic 2025 season Sunday in Cincinnati, where the Browns "Brownsed" it up in true Browns fashion, but still somehow managed to out-Browns the late Paul Brown's Cincinnati Bengals. Founding franchise father (for both teams!) Brown's Cleveland Browns beat Brown's founding franchise No. 2 by the score of 20-18 in a game that didn't have much going for it other than recertifying the greatness of Myles Garrett, who set an NFL record for most sacks in a season. The two teams are geographically situated as far away from each other as possible in the state. The Bengals have lost in the playoffs 16 times, plus three Super Bowl losses. But that still tops the Browns. Sunday in Cincinnati, neither team looked like postseason material. The Browns haven't been a postseason threat to anyone for longer than anyone can remember. Sunday, the teams went as far south as two teams can go to play a football game without actually leaving the state. However, that didn't prevent the Browns from somehow leaving Cincinnati with a two-point victory in the team's last game of the season, and, perhaps, head coach, and two-time NFL Coach of the Year Kevin Stefanski's last game as the coach. The last two years have been a bumpy ride for Stefanski, and it didn't take long, following Sunday's game, for the rumor mill to start rumor milling about who will be the Browns' next head coach. If a change takes place Monday, or if the search for the next coach begins Monday, as we all know, Monday, after the NFL's last regular-season game, is typically when disappointed NFL owners fire their head coaches and begin looking for their next "Mr. Right." As the most dysfunctional team in the league, with ownership that is arguably the most unpredictably shaky — does the name Deshaun Watson ring a bell? — the Browns will immediately become one of the leading candidates in this year's new coach carousel. As we all know, Browns ownership has not only been down this road before, they know where the best burger joints are. The best coaches? Well, that is a whole different kettle of fish, and no NFL team goes fishing for coaches more frequently and more fruitlessly than the Browns. If the plug is pulled on Stefanski, it says here that he won't be out of work longer than the hang time on a Corey Bojorquez punt. Following Sunday's game, Stefanski, predictably, chose not to address his employment situation. No surprise there. However, if Stefanski gets the "thanks for trying" treatment from ownership sometime in the next few days, then it's "gentlemen, start your engines!" time (again!) for potential Browns coaching sleuths. But it seems likely that the most dysfunctional team in the NFL might, if you are into such things as head NFL coach sleuthing, be a decent place to start. For far too long, now, and we are talking months, not weeks, the Browns continually seem to be the loser in the clubhouse whenever it comes time for an NFL team to start looking for a new head coach. Two names: Freddie Kitchens and Hue Jackson. Finding competent NFL head coaches is hard enough. Finding superior NFL head coaches is almost impossible, because all the good ones are taken. It is even harder to find quality NFL coaches when other NFL teams are doing the same. That's big trouble for the Browns, who typically have more than their share of swings and misses when it comes time to finding and hiring their next "Mr. Right." Anybody can hire an NFL coach. But in a typical scenario, all the good coaches are taken. That's bad news for The Bad News Browns, who have a long list of coaching misfires on their failed track record. So now it looks like, in the very near future, the horses for the Browns' next coaching search will soon be led into the starting gate. The likelihood, however, is that however many candidates are chosen to be realistic candidates, might not even be the right ones. The evidence is there, and it does not bode well for an organization that has not only fruitlessly cycled through more than its share of head coaching flat tires, but are still looking. Stefanski was the best of the bunch — remember when he beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh, in a playoff game, while sitting at home in his basement with COVID? That is not nothing, and Stefanski, who may or may not be out of work when you read this, has two Coach of the Year trophies to prove it. In the meantime, the NFL season for losers is underway. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com.