We are an extremely forgiving people.

We hand out second, third, fourth and sometimes even fifth chances to people to get it right, freely, passing them out as if they were bus tokens

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And that’s the way it should be, for we are taught forgiveness, we are tasked with granting forgiveness and we want to be forgiven ourselves. It’s just the right thing to do. Far be it for any of us to be both judge and jury unless we be put on trial ourselves, the light of truth hitting us squarely right between the eyes to illuminate all of our shortcomings.

With that having been said, then, we need to forgive Jim Schwartz for the seemingly childish way — let’s call it what it is — he exited the Browns. When he learned he did not get the head-coaching job, he picked up his headset and stormed out of the building to go home and stew. Certainly, it wasn’t a good look. But that’s just a first-glance observation. Let’s dig a little deeper.

Schwartz wanted — very much so, more than he could tell you, and more than can even be quantified — to be the head coach of the Browns. It meant something truly special for him, far beyond the fact that it’s one of only 32 jobs in the world to be a head coach in the NFL. He could go to this team and that team and the other team to be the head coach, if he were to be hired, and that would be nice. But it was the browns for the opportunity would’ve been special extremely special. Cleveland is where we got his start in the NFL, and when he came back he let it be known how thrilled he was to be here working again as, obviously, a much different person than he was 30-some-odd years ago. He threw himself into improving the Cleveland defense, and it showed, for it became one of the best units in the league over the last three years, so much so that it was able to give the club a chance to win every Sunday even though the offense was pathetic.

He thought that doing all that, along with the fact he had been an NFL head coach before with the Detroit Lions, would’ve been enough for the Browns to hire him when they fired Kevin Stepanski. It was not in the club‘s estimation. Now, we can debate back-and-forth all day about whether the move for the Browns to bypass Schwartz and instead hire Todd Monken for the job. But the fact of the matter is that that it is exactly what happened.

Schwartz didn’t like it, just as you and I, if we were in his shoes, would not have liked it, either. In fact, he detested it. He hated it. It cut right to his soul.

If he had to do it all over again, then his reaction to this would’ve certainly been different. Hindsight is a great thing, right?

But instead of criticizing the man for his actions, we need to look at the fact that he wanted to be the head coach of the team that the people reading the story root for, and have rooted for, for generations. They want very much for this team to win just as Schwartz wanted very much to be the one to turn it around and make it win. He is like a lot of us in that he loves the Browns.

As such, then, at a time when loyalty is in such short supply in so many aspects of this world, both sports and otherwise, let’s celebrate his overflowing abundance of such and remember that as we move forward. Jim Schwartz is a really, really good guy. I will be rooting for him to do well wherever he goes. I wish it were the Browns, but it wasn’t in the cards.

We can pull for Jim Schwartz, even if he’s on another team, and he will be, and we can at the same time root for the Browns. They are not mutually exclusive, nor should they be.

In fact, if we end up feeling about Todd Monken like we did Jim Schwartz, then perhaps this team will get to where we all want it to go. For Monken will be in charge of everything, whereas Schwartz was the CEO of only one side of the ball.

Steve King

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