The Cleveland Browns have fired head coach Freddie Kitchens following a disappointing 6-10 season, Adam Schefter first reported.
Browns fired Freddie Kitchens, per @mortreport and me.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 30, 2019
The decision comes just hours after the Browns lost 23-33 to the Cincinnati Bengals. Immediately following the game, Ian Rapoport tweeted that the Browns had planned to stand by Kitchens as recently as Week 15, barring a “disaster ending.” It can’t get much more disastrous than losing the final three games of the year, including to your in-state rival who owns the worst record in the league.
“I would like to thank Freddie for his dedication and efforts this past season,” Browns GM John Dorsey said in a statement. “We are disappointed in our results and feel a change is necessary. Freddie is a good man and good football coach. We wish he and his family nothing but success.”
Statement from GM John Dorsey: pic.twitter.com/uhNoMsJOb1
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) December 30, 2019
In a way, the ending of Kitchens’ tenure mirrors how the season went. Cleveland was pegged in the offseason as a dark horse contender after acquiring Odell Beckham Jr. in a blockbuster trade and the optimism surrounding quarterback Baker Mayfield’s promising rookie year.
Instead, NFL fans got more of the same old Browns. They were more in headlines for Myles Garrett clubbing a backup quarterback with a helmet and Beckham reportedly telling opposing teams to “come get me” than they were for their actual on-field product.
With the firing of Kitchens, the Browns now begin the search for their twelfth head coach since returning to the NFL in 1999, the seventh under the ownership of the Haslam family.
