The Browns gave Jackson his walking papers as the team had reached the point of not being able to tolerate the problems between Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley among the losing after a promising start.
Todd Haley would not have his hand raised in victory on this morning as a few hours after the news of Jackson's release, word squeaked out of Berea that Haley had been let go and relieved of his duties as well.
Many thought that if Jackson was canned that it would be Haley, with his previous head coaching experience with the Kansas City Chiefs, that would be tabbed for the interim head coaching spot.
Instead, Haley was on his way out and the Cleveland Browns would be the talk of the league for the latest bout of craziness.
The Browns couldn't even avoid controversy with the interim choice as at first for a short period of time, the word (Unofficially) came through social media that it would be veteran Al Saunders that was chosen as the interim coach.
Saunders had been a head coach before with the Chargers, decades ago, is well-liked and at his age (in his 60s) would be unlikely to be a consideration for the permanent position so it would be an unexciting, but safe choice to make.
Instead, it would be defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, he of the manic behavior, potty mouth, and the baggage of the New Orleans Saints "Bounty" program, that would be the interim head coach.
Williams does have head coaching experience from a stint with the Bills, but between the bounty-based past and what I would think would be a reluctance to allow Williams so many chances to sit before the media each week and answer questions before a live studio audience, I was surprised that Williams was the chosen option.
I am fine with Williams, who although wasn't a success in Buffalo, wasn't a huge failure either, so Williams should at least make these last eight games somewhat entertaining and interesting, even if victories may be in short supply.
Hue Jackson should have been released at the end of last season and given Jackson's talent to ingratiate with the Haslams while throwing everyone short of Swagger the dog under the bus for his own miscues, you have to admire his ability for self-survival, if not his ability to accept responsibility.
When looking at the Jackson reign, I cannot look at almost anything and say Jackson did something good or accountable.
This is a guy that insisted that there was no way that the team would go 0-16 and if so, he'd jump in Lake Erie at the end of the season.
Instead of an icy dip in January, Jackson pulled every string that he could to push things to training camp for a nice warm splash, if he couldn't avoid it at all.
These things seem small but taken all together so many times that Jackson attempted to shuffle responsibility away from himself to anyone else that it could possibly stick to, usually through his pal on the NFL Network Mike Silver, who used his platform to spread the blame on everyone else like peanut butter and away from Jackson like insect repellent.
Poor game management, questionable in-game personnel decisions, and general lack of discipline with his players on and off the field have made the Jackson era one that could only have been worse in one way- Jackson could have gotten his way at last year's trade deadline and traded a second and third-rounder for A.J. McCarron, who turned out to be so good that the team that signed him in free agency (Buffalo) moved him along (to Oakland) before the season began.
Had Jackson gotten his way, the Browns may not have drafted Baker Mayfield ( whether I agreed with the pick or not, the Browns needed a QB), and the second-rounder that would have been sent to the Bengals was used by the Browns to select Nick Chubb.
I would have kept Todd Haley around as the offensive coordinator for now.
Haley seemed to have clicked with Baker Mayfield and between Gregg Williams and Haley, they might have added some old-school discipline that the younger Browns seem to be in desperate need of.
Yes, his play-calling hasn't dazzled anyone through a half-season, but he was forced to use Tyrod Taylor early (John Dorsey is just as responsible for that as Jackson) and then a rookie QB with fewer weapons than he was promised when he took the job.
I would have kept Haley for the season and would have told him now that he has eight games to go with a deep re-evaluation at the season's end.
As for the Browns, this day should have occurred long ago, and the decision of the Haslams (and I'm hearing more and more about Dee Haslam having more say than was previously thought) to arrange this shotgun marriage with Jackson with separately John Dorsey off the field and Haley on it, was doomed for disaster from the second the decision was made.
Those forced combinations rarely work and the Browns should know that from experience having seen Mike Holmgren and Eric Mangini struggle together, Tom Heckert slug it out with Joe Banner, and Mike Lombardi and Mike Pettine argue with Ray Farmer.
Nothing that the Haslams pull surprises me and even though it seems like Haley has more media and fan support for keeping his job than Jackson, firing both of them fits Haslam's preference for a lack of contentiousness in the front office.
After all, Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi battled for control and the Haslams didn't pick one or the other-they fired both.
Same for Mike Pettine and Ray Farmer, they didn't choose, they fired both.
The Haslams did fire Sashi Brown a year before Jackson, but I would argue that might have been the situation that would have been best to fire both at the same time.
The problem is that although the Browns have constantly been filled with dysfunction through various coaches and front-office types, the one ingredient that is always present is the Haslams themselves, who claim to hate the lack of cooperation and verbal aggression in-house, yet continue to have an organization that is set up to have two leaders (and in the Banner/Lombardi/Rob Chudzinski case three) to enable the same problem over and over again with often forcing two people together that don't believe in the same process, system, etc.
That is all on them.
The Browns have an excellent personnel man in John Dorsey, they need to give him the power to hire the right man for Cleveland.
The important questions are these - Can the Haslams trust John Dorsey to hire the right man? Can the Haslams actually allow Dorsey to do so and not hamstring him with their choice, which might not be Dorsey's?
Can that man get along with Dorsey? Can the Haslams refine their setup from failing management pyramid and change it to one person (Dorsey) at the top?
And most importantly- Can the Haslams get out of their own way and do what owners should do-
Own and let their employees do their job...
I hope to write the Tyronn Lue post later tonight as promised unless the Browns are active at today's trade deadline.
I also have the TRS boxing ratings coming soon and I've been working on two features for slow news days that I hope you'll enjoy.
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