I'm not a Browns fan, and I do not mean to throw salt in any wounds. I genuinely am curious about your opinions on the Pettine and Farmer firings.

I thought Browns Nation would be ecstatic about both getting the boot, because (to a non-fan) both were absolutely horrible at their jobs. But the reaction I am seeing on the interwebs is....something substantially less than enthusiasm.

Is it just a matter of "here we go again..." all over again? Or was there some hope that Pettine and Farmer could get it pulled together?

In a way, this describes the NFL as a whole.

Either that, or they'll move to Baltimore.

My son, who is a big Browns fan, is really afraid they will draft Hackenberg. Both my son and I can't figure out the hype on this guy. He seems a mediocre college QB at best. We really can't figure out what pro scouts see in him.

OH GOD he's the perfect Browns' QB too. He was a big deal coming out of high school because he already had the NFL frame and arm. It was kind of unfortunate he played with some less than stellar talent at PSU while he was there. His offensive lines were terrible.

I really think the fans are gonna get this crazy notion in their head that Cardale Jones is gonna be the savior ala LeBron. Cleveland kid who went to Ohio State...cmon draft that guy! Hackenberg would be a perfect Big Ben replacement in Pittsburgh though, where he will probably be a Pro Bowler just because that's how the Browns work.

I think the biggest reason the Browns aren't getting positive feedback from the fans or the national press is because it looks like the Browns promoted a perceived non-football guy, Sashi Brown, to be their de facto GM. Does he have any football acumen? Can he run a front office? Does he know how to run a draft or help select a head coach? Who knows. The Browns seemed to have tried every type of front office structure and it hasn't helped them yet. I just want wins!! Don't blow 1st round draft picks!!

C'mon....No one takes fantasy football more seriously than lawyers. It's a no-brainer! :P

I'm gonna rant.

I swear if a guy in a striped boater jacket, straw hat and a cane started sweet talking him into forming a marching band, Haslam would do him one better and make him the next GM.

They can't evaluate talent. That's the issue. It's not coaching, it's not a curse, it's not a lack of consistency or continuity. They cannot identify a Pro-Bowler from an NFL starter from a special teamer. It's not that the Browns draft picks flame out in Cleveland and then leave to great success. They disappear. They go away. They become color analysts by the age of 27 or terrible starters for the Houston Texans.

They manically go back and forth between drafting safe, low-reward (Jeff Faine, Brady Quinn, Phil Taylor, Brandon Weeden, Cam Erving, Danny Shelton, Kam Wimbeley) and gigantic high risks (Johnny Manziel, Justin Gilbert, Josh Gordon, Kellen Winslow, Barkevious Mingo).

They're gun-shy at QB because of TIM COUCH. That was SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO. He still haunts them, as if they can never take another quarterback higher than 22nd in the draft because TIM COUCH might re-emerge from the Kentucky hills in the form of another quarterback (He did. His name was Brandon Weeden). So we sit through Jake Delhomme, Jeff Garcia, Josh McCown, Luke McCown, Kip McCown, Kerry McCown, Kory McCown, Brian Hoyer, Doug Pederson, Colt McCoy, Seneca Wallace and Charlie Frye because TIM COUCH DIDN'T PAN OUT.

I don't have much to add beyond the very accurate takes here. I'll point out that Brian's "rant" isn't even a rant. That's because he's exhausted. All Browns fans are, whether they are avid or apathetic, they're just tired. We've been through not just a whole team leaving and returning, but a new regime every 2-3 years. It's been joyless awful football and crushed hope since 1999. I agree that this is still a football town, but more and more people are rediscovering the joy of doing anything except watching the Browns on Sundays. They left my senior year of college, and I honestly think that for many of us they never really came back.

I still believe the most underappreciated moment in sports history is Brandon Weeden getting trapped under a giant United States flag before his first game as an NFL quarterback.

To be fair, several of those players had bad injuries which could happen to any NFL player, Phil Taylor, Courtney Brown and Winslow and Winslow had a few spectacular years. Edwards had a few good years when he didn't drop the ball or run his mouth. Thomas, Mack and Haden have been good even if Haden had a disaster of a 2015. The biggest issue really is total misses at QB and the last 4 years which is a life time of misery. Farmer was a disaster in judging talent and Pettine was just as bad. I'm not sure Gilbert is as bad as Pettine thought and how would he know since he rarely made the field. Gilbert was as least as good as 3-4 CB's that played most of the season. Too early to judge Shelton or Erving, Erving is a better run blocker than pass blocker and needs to put on 15 lbs of muscle and Shelton didn't have a lot of talent around him especually at lb.
Pettine's defensive scheme was horrible, he was a mishire as bad as they come. Farmer was horrible in judging talent, you could pick someone out of the stands and it would be an improvement.

The problem with being a Browns fan is:

You look at what they do, who they draft, and their on field results. You then look at your fantasy football team year after year and joke to your friends that you couldn't be any worse than who the Browns currently employ based on the success of your fantasy football teams.

Then they make a lawyer with no real football acumen their roster guru because he's 'really good' at fantasy football.

Their off-season needs to look like this:

1. Load up a Brinks Truck
2. Back it up to Sean Payton's house
3. Pray

#1. Eye roll. at least attempt to stay on topic.
#2. Sorry, once again, by your own oft-repeated rule, Injuries happen, and you have to get past it. If it's not an excuse for Ohio (playing 3rd string QB in same game, which, as anyone who recently visited an ophthalmologist can see, severely limited our passing game), then it's not an excuse for NIU>