What if Gregg Williams wins?

HOW GREGG WILLIAMS COULD SOLVE – OR MESS UP – THIS BROWNS COACHING SEARCH

By STEVE KING

What if Gregg Williams wins?

What if he wins not just a few games, but a lot of games, in the last half of this season?

What if he goes 6-2, 7-1 or, dare we say, 8-0?

What if he turns the Browns around?

What if the Browns are successful, and entertaining, and a must-see on Sundays?

Then what?

What would the Browns do?

Great questions, all of them, for which there are no easy, or good, answers.

Williams was named the interim head coach of the team on Monday after Hue Jackson was fired. He will also continue to serve as defensive coordinator.

His first test in this dual role will come on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium when the Browns, just 2-5-1 and mired in a three-game losing streak, host the streaking – and surprising — Kansas City Chiefs, who, at 7-1, may just be the best team in the AFC. The New England Patriots, who handed the Chiefs their lone loss, may well have something to say about that “best team in the AFC” tag, but for now at least, the Chiefs deserve to be called that. They have looked the part.

Meanwhile, the Browns have looked the part of a team in disarray.

Again.

Still.

This is not the first time that Williams has been a head coach in the NFL. He served in that role with the Buffalo Bills from 2001-03. But he is not given much of s chance to get the Browns job full-time once this season is over.

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam admitted as much – inadvertently so – when asked in Monday’s press conference if Williams would be considered. He stumbled through his answer as if he had just been roused from a deep sleep.

Yes, of course Williams would, he said, if the Browns decide to open up the job, as opposed to identifying a candidate and going after him with everything but the kitchen sink.

So for right now at least, Williams, in the eyes of Haslam and his top men and woman (his wife and co-owner of the team, Dee), has about as much of a chance to be named the permanent successor to Jackson as you, me or your second cousin twice removed Hank, who is in third place in his fantasy league heading into this weekend and feeling very good about himself, and his chances – for the fantasy league title, mind you.

But if Williams wins and wins big – and he gets the attention of the players and they really like him, and he gets the attention of the fans and they really like him – could he sway the Haslam bunch? Could he at least give those people some pause as they work their way through this selection process?

Perhaps.

If nothing else, it would interject some immediate interest, and controversy, and a bit of a dilemma, into this story as it begins to play out.

But winning – no matter how it comes about or who coaches it – through the second half of this season would be a lot of fun. And gee, wouldn’t it be cool if Browns football was fun again, just like all of us older, gray-haired people remember it to be?