Mike Pettine can’t control injuries. No one can, really.

But the head coach of the Browns can control what happens before those injuries occur.

So while Pettine had nothing to do with Johnny Manziel getting dinged in last Sunday’s 17-13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, thus placing him into the concussion protocol and likely causing him to miss Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers at FirstEnergy Stadium, he had everything to do with not giving the quarterback playing time earlier in the year.

The Browns went into 2015 knowing they weren’t going to make it to the playoffs. They would have been thrilled with merely a .500 season, something that has long since been an impossibility for the 3-12 club.

But no matter what happened with the record, the Browns wanted to come out of the season pretty much knowing whether or not Manziel has what it takes to be their franchise guy.

They still don’t know that, though. Why? Because earlier in the season, when Manziel was healthy and it was clear Josh McCown was not the answer, Pettine kept insisting for some unknown reason that McCown, who has never won in his long career, gave the Browns the best chance to win. He never gave Manziel, who had won the Heisman Trophy while at Texas A&M, an opportunity to play.

And why was that? Because Manziel was not Pettine’s guy. Because he didn’t like Manziel. Because winning his silly battle with General Manager Ray Farmer meant more to him than what was best for the team. And what was best for the team was finding out about Manziel.

For that alone – for that ego-centered act of insubordination – Pettine should be fired. Add in that lousy record – the Browns were 7-9 last year and lost their last five games – and it’s a no-brainer. Pettine simply can’t be guiding this team next year, just as Farmer can’t be the GM. Come on, there are so many negatives for both of them. The Browns can’t continue to head down the same road they’ve traveled the last two years. It’s headed to nowhere.

As Jimmy Haslam watches Austin Davis – Austin Davis, for goodness sakes – quarterbacking his team on Sunday, let’s hope what has – and has not – happened under Pettine’s direction, and for that matter Farmer’s direction, crystallizes for the owner of the Browns.

If it does, then changes will come perhaps as soon as the final gun sounds on Sunday.