Freddie Kitchens Is on the Hot Seat and Might Not Last the Season.

We cannot look at the deeply disappointing 2019 Brownnies and their rookie head coach without looking at the 2018 Cleveland browns.

The Browns started the 2018 season with a 2-6 record which was enough to get their then-coach Hugh Jackson fired and replaced on an interim basis by defensive coordinator Greg Williams and an unknown Freddie Kitchens then running backs coach was elevated to offensive coordinator.

The Brown went on a run those last games of the season finishing 5-3 and rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield finished with the most rookie touchdown passes with 27. Everything was humming and the hype was at an all-time high.

In the pre-season, the General manager of the Cleveland Browns one John Dorsey made a few moves that would fundamentally alter the team.

1. He elevated Freddie Kitchens to Head Coach - the coach had done such a great job that his inexperience was overlooked. ( He had never been a coordinator or head coach at any level in the past)
2. He traded his right guard for a defensive lineman - Oliver Vernon a defensive lineman was brought in from NewYork in exchange for Zeitler a guard. this was sold as an addition by subtraction. (more on this later).
3. He traded for star receiver Beckham - The prolific receiver from the new york giants was another weapon he added to this team.

All these moves by the front office increased the hype to stratospheric levels, and the Browns were anointed heir apparent to the division and a possible deep run in the postseason.

The Browns started the season at 2-2 with terrible games against a bad team, a blowout loss on opening day vs the Titans and a worse humiliating loss by the San Francisco 49ers, a potential Super bowl-bound team.

Yet with the Browns underperforming and falling to 2-5, everybody blamed it on the tough scheduled they faced to start the season. It wasn't until they lost to a Denver Broncos team that was starting a third-string quarterback in the next game that the boo birds came out and everyone acknowledged that this was really a bad team.

"It really doesn't concern me," Kitchens said in his postgame press conference after the team's loss to the Broncos. "It's not my decision. I've never worried about it before, I'm not worried about it now, I'm not going to worry about it in the future. I'll just do the best job I can do." the coach said when asked about his job security.

To be honest this is what every coach on the hot seat says. The Browns are a mess and they have few choices, they look lost and their coach looks to be over his head.

1. Lack of discipline - The browns are one of the most penalized teams in the NFL at 10 a game, last season they only averaged 5. This is mainly due to a lack of focus and that is on the head coach and the players.
2. The offensive line - last season when Mayfield was throwing touch down passes it was because the offensive line was great with just 5 sacks allowed in the last 8 games compared to 18 at this point of the season. The trading of zietler was a disaster in hind-site since his heir apparent Corbett couldn't handle it and got traded a few weeks ago. The patch up line is one of the biggest problems for the Browns this season.
3. The Coaching - Some of the calls Freddie Kitchens has made and continues to make are questionable, his swag from last season is gone and this team is tentative and afraid to play their game at best. The coach has lost his swagger and the team has followed.

Star running back Kareem Hunt is back from an 8 game suspension and he is rearing to go that and a soft schedule for the rest of the season might mask some of the problems this team has gone through so far in the season. will it be enough for Freddie Kitchens to keep his job, only time will tell.

ODDs are they can. The soft schedule will help and the reason this team gets the break is because of their individual and combined talent. Baker, Garrett, OBJ, Landry have all underwhelmed this season but they have the talent to turn this season around. There was a reason why there was so much preseason hype on the Browns and these guys are a huge part of that hype.