No room for error now

HUE JACKSON HAS NO ROOM FOR ERROR NOW

By STEVE KING

Browns head coach Hue Jackson is between a rock and a hard place, and this time, it will be hard for him to wiggle out of it.

The Browns are 2-4-1 and riding a two-game losing streak as they get ready to meet the suddenly resurgent Pittsburgh Steelers (3-2-1), who are in first place in the bunched-together AFC North. And did I mention that the game is at Heinz Field, where the Browns have won just once, way back in 2003?

After that, the Browns host the following two Sundays, in order, the Kansas City Chiefs, the best team in the AFC after improving to 6-1 with their 45-10 beatdown of the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday Night Football, and the Atlanta Falcons, who, though only 3-4 following their 23-20 victory over the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, are expected to be a top contender in the NFC once it’s all said and done.

Where’s the win in that three-game gauntlet?

I don’t think there is one, and therein lies the problem.

The bye week, on Nov. 18, comes next, and it’s likely the Browns will be 2-7-1 and in the throes of a five-game losing streak.

If Browns owner – or co-owner, as it were – Jimmy Haslam would be looking to make a head coaching change – at least during the season – that would be the perfect time with a week off and plenty of time to get re-organized under a new coach.

Of course, it’s hardly a certainly that Haslam would pull the plug on Hue at any point, especially during the season when it would be a tremendous distraction, since he mandated before the season that Jackson be given a chance to coach when he’s backed by real football people and not some goofy guy named Sashi Brown.

Now, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure all this out. I’m just pointing it out, after warning of its possibility for months. I wish it hadn’t come to this, but it has.

For a coach, no matter how much of a good guy he is – and Hue is truly a very good guy – and no matter how much other people messed him up – and Jackson was certainly messed up badly by Brown – he is ultimately responsible for his wins, and losses. The NFL is a bottom-line business, and Hue’s bottom line isn’t pretty.

He went 1-31 in his first two seasons and returned, much to the alarm – and dismay – of many. And now he’s 3-35-1. That’s obscenely bad.

And it could go to 3-38-1 after these next three games.

As much as Haslam may not want to do it if and when that happened, he might not have any choice.

More on this in my next post.