CRENNEL, 2007 BROWNS LOST IT ALL IN CINCINNATI

By STEVE KING

I love to see good things happen to good people.

I’m sure most of you are like that, too.

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That’s why what was happening with, and to, then Browns nice-guy head coach Romeo Crennel through the first 14 games of the 2007 season was so cool.

The Browns, who had struggled in his first two seasons, going a combined 10-22, were a surprising 9-5 and had won two in a row and four of five heading into their Dec. 23 game against the down-and-out Cincinnati Bengals (5-9) at Paul Brown Stadium. All the Browns had to do to clinch their second playoff berth of the expansion era — and their first in five years — was defeat the Bengals, whom they had defeated 51-45 at Cleveland in Week 2.

With that, then, it seemed a fait de-accompli that the Browns would win, get to the postseason and give Crennel an even stronger resume in the competition for NFL Coach of the Year honors.

The wind was terrible — and it was brutally cold — at Paul Brown Stadium, just like it had been the week before when the Browns topped the Buffalo Bills 8-0 at Cleveland in a blizzard. But unlike that game, when the wind blew constantly from south to north at FirstEnergy Stadium and never changed, the win in Cincinnati was swirling, blowing from one direction and then the next, making it nearly impossible to gauge. Throwing the ball would be an adventure. 

But that seemingly would not be a problem at all for the Browns since they had an outstanding runner in Jamal Lewis, who had been signed in the offseason after the Baltimore Ravens cut him in a salary cap move, and the Bengals had a poor rush defense.

Lewis did indeed run all over the Bengals, rambling for 92 yards in 21 carries, while Jason Wright, now the president of the Washington Football Team, added 38 yards in just three tries. But, for whatever reason, the Browns didn’t run the ball nearly enough, instead testing the wind by having Pro Bowl-bound quarterback Derek Anderson throw the ball again and again and again. The result was that Anderson was intercepted four times and the Browns, after falling behind 19-0 at halftime, couldn’t catch up and lost 19-14.

Cleveland offensive coordinator — and Toledo native — Rob Chudzinski kept calling passes and Crennel, who is back in Cleveland on Sunday as the interim head coach of the Houston Texans as they take on the Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium, stood there on the sideline, let those calls go through his headset and did nothing to stop them.

It was complete insanity, and the Browns, though they beat the San Francisco 49ers 20-7 at Cleveland the next week in the regular-season finale, missed out on the playoffs.

Crennel, Chudzinski and all the rest of the coaches were fired a year later after a hopeful 2008 season disintegrated into a 4-12 finish. But in essence, they were really fired — or, more specifically, they fired themselves — with an inexplicable coaching performance in that 2007 game at Cincinnati.

The Browns are still waiting for that second postseason berth of the expansion era, and their first in now 18 years. Perhaps they’ll get it this year, and a win over Romeo Crennel’s Texans would be a good next step in that direction..