The Browns’ season on the brink officially fell into the abyss Sunday afternoon. With a 16-6 loss to the lowly Houston Texans, Cleveland pounded the final nail into its coffin and made it clear things aren’t going to get better anytime soon.
That unpleasant realization was evident on the faces of every player, coach and front office member wandering the lower level at Cleveland Browns Stadium. It was a bitter pill to swallow, which is why so many of them were spitting mad after their latest loss.
“It’s just not happening for us,” said linebacker Willie McGinest, whose emotions were raw after the Browns fell to 4-7 one year after winning 10 games. “It’s not one person, it’s a collective group. Everyone across the board needs to play better ball, and I’m pointing the finger at me first. Each of us has to take a look in the mirror at this point.”
If McGinest’s teammates take his advice, they won’t like what they see — especially Pro Bowlers Braylon Edwards, Joe Thomas and Kellen Winslow Jr., each of whom had a role in sabotaging the team at various points.
Nor will head coach Romeo Crennel, who re-ignited a quarterback controversy by replacing Brady Quinn with Derek Anderson, or offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski, whose play calling was mystifying at best.
“You can talk about ifs and buts, but we’ve been doing that all year,” Anderson said. “It’s not just me that’s frustrated. Brady is going to be frustrated about it and the whole offense is going to be frustrated about it.
“We need all 11 guys on the same page and when we don’t get that, you see what happens.”
With the exception of a season-ending injury, everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Browns, who were facing a team with a worse record than theirs for the first time in 2008.
Their woes started with Quinn, who went 8-for-18 for 94 yards, his first two NFL interceptions and a passer rating of 21.3. Former go-to guy Anderson followed with a 5-for-14 outing for 51 yards, one pick and a 17.3 mark.
Illustrating just how poorly each of them played, their combined rating was even lower at 15.8, which is quite a feat under the NFL’s complicated formula.
“I didn’t have any idea I was on such a short leash,” said Quinn, who was unaware he had been named the starter for next week by Crennel. “You would have to ask Coach why I was pulled. He was upset with a couple of decisions I made out there.”
Young cornerbacks Brandon McDonald and Eric Wright also had a day to forget as larger receivers Andre Johnson and Kevin Walter danced on them to the tune of 17 catches for 209 yards — four grabs and 64 more yards than the entire Cleveland team. Houston also successfully converted three fourth-down plays for the first time since entering the NFL in 2002.
“Right now, we’re not playing good football and we’re not a good football team because of that,” Joshua Cribbs said.
On the other side of the ball, the Texans equaled their team record with five takeaways and prevented the Browns from taking a snap inside their 12-yard line. Even rock-solid kicker Phil Dawson couldn’t save the home team, shanking his final field goal attempt so badly, it looked like a pooch-punt.
“At this point, when you make a small mistake, it gets magnified,” Dawson said. “When you make a big mistake, obviously, it’s even worse.”
Unfortunately, things can — and most likely will — get worse for Cleveland in its final five games. Its locker room appears to be at a tipping point, while the speculation over Crennel’s future is growing louder with each defeat.
Considering the Browns still have to play powerful Tennessee, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, the cries for Bill Cowher, Bob Stoops or Jim Tressel should be deafening in December.
McGinest openly bristled at such a scenario, but admitted it might occur.
“It is so old to blame it on the coach and I’m not buying it,” the team’s elder statesman said. “The coaches aren’t out on the field dropping passes, missing tackles, giving up deep balls and giving up touchdowns. That’s a cop-out to me.”
But it’s also an easy way out for a general manager to save his job, as Phil Savage might have to do in sacrificing Crennel. The team he has assembled is not good enough to contend in the AFC North, short-term or long-term, which means major changes are forthcoming.
There just aren’t any quick fixes available the rest of this season.
“I’m going to give you the spiel: We’ll come back, correct the mistakes and try to do our best,” running back Jamal Lewis said. “(But) I don’t know what you could do to shake it up. What are you going to do?”
Contact Brian Dulik at (330) 721-4059 or brisports@hotmail.com.

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