Cleveland Browns fire Kitchens after disappointing season

BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns have fired coach Freddie Kitchens after a disheartening season that didn’t come close to meeting expectations.

Kitchens was let go Sunday night, just hours after the Browns were beaten by the lowly Cincinnati Bengals (2-14) to finish 6-10 and miss the playoffs for the 17th straight year.

Earlier, Kitchens held out hope he would be back for a second season, saying after the 33-23 loss in Cincinnati, “I’m going to show up tomorrow (Monday) and do my job.”

But owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam decided one season was enough and parted ways with Kitchens, who was a surprising hire a year ago because he had no previous head coaching experience. His successful eight-game stretch as the team’s offensive coordinator to end 2018 had sent his stock soaring.

Kitchens was plagued by numerous mistakes in his rookie season, with game management and an inability to get Cleveland’s offense rolling among his most notable flaws.

Kitchens is the fifth coach fired since 2012 by the Haslams, who have shown little patience in a failed attempt to resurrect one of the league’s proudest franchises.

Cleveland hasn’t had a winning record since 2007 and has gone through seven coaches in that 12-year span.

The Browns were a trendy pick to make the postseason under Kitchens after acquiring star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. in a blockbuster trade in March from the New York Giants. They paired him with quarterback Baker Mayfield, who broke the league rookie record for touchdown passes in 2018.

But the Mayfield-to-Beckham connection never got consistent with Kitchens also handling play-calling duties and the Browns were one of the league’s most penalized teams for much of the year. Injuries were also a problem, but there were numerous self-inflicted issues — none bigger than star defensive end Myles Garrett being suspended indefinitely for ripping off Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph’s helmet and hitting him in the head with it during the closing seconds of a Nov. 14 home game.

The Browns got a rare win over their archrivals that night to move back into playoff contention, but Garrett’s loss of control was a poor reflection on Kitchens and his staff.

What direction will the Haslams choose to go in looking for their next coach? Former Packers coach Mike McCarthy was thought to be a candidate last year, but did not interview with Cleveland. He has close ties with Browns general manager John Dorsey and others in Cleveland’s front office and his track record would be appealing.

Former Carolina coach Ron Rivera will also generate some buzz.

With the Browns still in the playoff hunt at the beginning of December, it appeared Kitchens might be able to survive his bumpy start as a rookie coach. But after Kitchens was photographed in public wearing a “Pittsburgh started it” T-shirt in reference to the Browns’ brawl with the Steelers a few weeks earlier, Cleveland lost in Pittsburgh, which started third-string quarterback Devlin “Duck” Hodges.

That may have been forgivable, but a Dec. 15 loss at Arizona seemed to seal Kitchens’ fate as the Browns played uninspired and allowed the Cardinals to push them all over the field.

Kitchens received little public support this past week from players, who seemed to understand more change was imminent — and necessary.