LEAVING THE PAST IN THE PAST

By STEVE KING

That is, forgetting the past and concentrating on the present and future.

It sounds so simple, and in one way, it really is.

It’s hard to do, though. We have memories, and they affect us – deeply so in many respects.

But that’s exactly what the Browns – and their new head coach, Kevin Stefanski – must do if they have any hope of climbing out of the muck and mire they’ve been stick in throughout the expansion era. They have to somehow forget the losing – all of it – and move on. And they have to remember that Stefanski had nothing – absolutely nothing – to do with that. As he takes over, it really is a fresh new beginning for everybody involved.

Stefanski touched on that – briefly so, way too briefly so, in my estimation – during his introductory press conference on Tuesday at FirstEnergy Stadium.

When asked what makes him different from other Browns coaches through the years and why it’s going to be different with him, he said, “I understand that, and for me — and it is easy — the focus is on 2020. We are not looking backward. We are looking forward.

“I hope all of our players know that, too. When they walk in the building, whenever it is in April, we are moving forward. Anything that has happened in the past does not affect our future. I am just confident in the group that we have.”

Of all the things that Stefanski said – and there was plenty, with his opening statement being about as long as “War and Peace” – I think the most important was his determination to put the past … well, in the past.

He will be asked about it all the time – he has inherited a lot of bad karma – but he can’t be dissuaded. While the Browns have to own the past, he doesn’t.

And can’t.

Or else his tenure is doomed even before it starts.