When a head coach takes over, he has a reputation.
 
Mike Pettine’s was that of being tough and defensive-minded when he came to the Browns in 2014.
 
That’s why what happened late in yesterday’s 30-27 loss to the San Diego Chargers is so disappointing for him and the team.
 
After the Browns impressively tied it 27-27 with a touchdown and two-point conversion with just two over two minutes left, the defense quickly and completely collapsed like a house of cards in letting the Chargers almost effortlessly drive into position to kick the game-winning field.
 
The defense, in fact, has been horrific in three of the Browns’ four games this season, standing out only in the win over the Tennessee Titans.
 
The plan this season was for the Browns to run the ball, play good defense and special teams and generate good field position.
 
In the end yesterday, first the defense and then the special teams let the team down in a big way. So much for that plan.
 
What’s wrong with the defense, which is run by Jim O’Neil, Pettine’s hand-picked coordinator? Will this defense, into which a lot of money and draft picks have been poured the last two years under Pettine, get better? Does it even have a chance to get better, since there is some age in some spots? Have older players such as safety Donte Whitner hit the end of the line?
 
These are the questions that will have to be answered this week by Pettine as the Browns get ready to take to the road and meet his former team, the Baltimore Ravens, and also going forward as the final 12 games play out.
 
The season, which has produced just a 1-3 record thus far, is by no means lost, even for a team such as the Browns, for whom winning seven to nine games would be quite an accomplishment.
 
However, the defense has to pick up – considerably so – for them to have any chance to do that. From what we’ve seen to this point, expecting that to happen may be a stretch at best.
 
So if you’re Mike Pettine and you’re trying to establish who you are as a head coach and what your want your team to be – as he says, “play like a Brown” – you’ve got to be quite worried.