Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, who will interview this week for the Browns’ head-coaching vacancy, is an appealing candidate.

In his two years in Detroit, he has done a good job. His defense was outstanding last year when the Lions went 11-5 and made it into the NFC playoffs, and, after a rough start in 2015, the defense, just like the team overall, played well in the second half of the season in a 7-9 finish.

But Austin, as good of a candidate as he might be, and as impressive as an interview as he might have with the Browns, probably isn’t a good fit and
would be a hard sell to the players and fans.

The Browns are coming off a disastrous two seasons under defensive coordinator-turned head coach Mike Pettine.

Two regimes before that, the Browns had a pair of seasons under their worst head coach ever in Eric Mangini, a longtime defensive coordinator.

And for three seasons right before Mangini, the Browns had a head coach named Romeo Crennel, a longtime defensive coordinator who, in a press
conference, asked media members why they were so intent on asking questions about the quarterback.

None of those three coaches had any understanding of offense and its importance in today’s game. The offense is the thing now in the NFL. You
score points – lots of them – in order to win. On defense, you don’t really stop opponents. You just slow them down a bit. Even New England Patriots
head coach Bill Belichick, one of the best defensive coordinators in the game’s history, understands the “my offense is better than your offense”
formula for winning. That wasn’t the formula when he coached the Browns from 1991-95, but it became such when we went to the Patriots and he was
smart enough to embrace it fully.

I’ve said this before and I’m going to keep saying it: As much as the Browns played poorly on defense and on special teams this season, the real issue – clearly, completely and unquestionably, even for those who follow the team only casually – was their offense. Period. End of statement. It’s no more complicated than that. Really. To argue otherwise is to do so just
looking for a fight. And it’s not about fighting, it’s about getting the offense going.

So to hire a defensive coach again – whether it be Teryl Austin or somebody else – is the wrong way to go, unless, of course, like the New York Jets
did in former Cleveland defensive backs coach Todd Bowles, or the Minnesota Vikings did in former Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, the Browns find a defensive-minded head coach smart enough to understand offense inside and out. That’s the chief requirement for the job.

Bowles and Zimmer are proof that there are capable defensive minds out there, but Pettine, Mangini and Crennel are proof that they are extremely few and far between and you had better do your research on them very thoroughly before hiring them.

The Browns have to figure all that out. Are they smart enough? We’ll see.

But as we keep saying: Whatever they end up doing, they’ve got to get it
right.