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With Mike Sherman likely to take the offensive coordinator position with the Miami Dolphins, it looks as though former Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress is the front-runner to be the new offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns.

A source said that the Browns had narrowed down their choices to Sherman and Childress, but the decision now appears to have been made for them. Childress was the offensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles from 2003-05, when Pat Shurmur was the quarterbacks coach.

Both Childress and Shurmur spent seven years on the Eagles’ staff together under head coach Andy Reid before Childress left to become the Minnesota Vikings head coach in 2006.

Hiring an offensive coordinator was a priority for the Browns this offseason. With Pat Shurmur calling the plays in 2011, the offense sunk to near-historic lows, ranking 29th in the NFL.

If Childress is hired, there is still the question of whether he will be the one calling the plays. At his year-end press conference, Shurmur said that he would relinquish the play-calling duties if a high-caliber coordinator was hired. That could be possible with Childress, but keep in mind that he didn’t call his own plays in Philadelphia, either.

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In a surprising move on Wednesday, Tony Grossi was removed of his duties as Cleveland Browns beat writer for The Plain Dealer.

Aug 4, 2011; Berea, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner (left) and president Mike Holmgren watch a training camp session at the Cleveland Browns training facility (David Richard-US PRESSWIRE)

It all started last week, when Grossi accidentally sent what was supposed to be a direct message on Twitter to his entire group of followers. And he picked the worst subject to harshly criticize: Browns owner Randy Lerner.

“He’s a pathetic figure, the most irrelevant billionaire in the world,” Grossi said, though the tweet was later deleted. Once people caught wind of it, The Plain Dealer and Grossi apologized, but that doesn’t appear to have been enough.

Now that Grossi has been ousted, the speculation as to how it all went down can begin. It’s easy to assume that Lerner heard what Grossi had said about him and requested that he be removed from the beat, but a move this drastic easily has a backstory with more layers than just that.

It’s too bad for Grossi that the end of his run as a Browns beat writer came down to an errant tweet. It’s a testament to the fact that, in this day and age, where social networks make people more accessible than ever, public figures must be especially careful as to how they present themselves.

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While Browns fans are likely celebrating the fact that the Baltimore Ravens once again missed out on a chance to go to the Super Bowl, there is still a major Cleveland connection in this year’s game that might ruffle some feathers.

It comes in the form of former Cleveland Browns head coach Bill Belichick, who will be going to yet another Super Bowl as head coach of the New England Patriots.

The argument over whether fans should still be bitter about the success of the Ravens still rages on, so it begs the question: is anyone out there still bitter over Bill Belichick?

He had a 37-45 overall record in Cleveland and is known for benching quarterback Bernie Kosar for “diminishing skills,” opting to go with Vinny Testaverde instead. Belichick did take the team to the playoffs in 1994, but was 5-11 in his last season with the team (which was also the Browns’ last season in Cleveland before moving to Baltimore).

Since resigning from the organization in 1996, Belichick has gone on to become – arguably – one of the greatest head coaches of all-time. His Patriots are about to appear in their fifth Super Bowl, and are looking to win their fourth, on February 5.

But, like the success of a team like the Ravens, do Browns fans feel burned by Belichick’s yearly assault on the Super Bowl? Obviously, there were different circumstances surrounding the Browns of the mid-90s compared to the Patriots of the 2000s, but still, it must have that familiar tinge of “That’s just the luck of the Cleveland Browns.”

It simply comes down to the fact that Belichick needed his rocky experiences in Cleveland to take with him to a future head coaching position. It’s unfortunate that the Browns were that stepping stone, but is that really something to blame Belichick over?

What do you say, Browns fans?

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The Cleveland Browns have made another addition to the coaching staff this offseason, hiring Tim Mauck as their new defensive backs coach. He replaces former coach Jerome Henderson, who left the team to join the Dallas Cowboys in early January.

Mauck comes from the Tennessee Titans, where he spent two seasons (2009-10) as an offensive assistant.

Prior to that, Mauck spent time all over the football world, working as an assistant at the University of Montana (2004-07) and at UCLA (2008). He also spent 13 years as a safety in the NFL, playing for the New England Patriots (1990), Green Bay Packers (1991-94), Denver Broncos (1995-96), Seattle Seahawks (1997), Indianapolis Colts (1998), Philadelphia Eagles (1999-2001), and San Francisco 49ers (2002).

The Browns are no closer to hiring an offensive coordinator, but that doesn’t come as a surprise, as much of the search hinges on who fills the current head coaching vacancies around the league.

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The regular season is over, which traditionally means that nothing really matters for the Cleveland Browns until April. It’s a time of reflection, as well as watching competent teams that make us jealous.

I’m not a teacher, so my report card doesn’t get marked up with grades based on how the Browns performed this season. If it did, I would be the teacher of a very strange subject. Instead, my report card will be a long series of answers to one question.

What have we learned this year?

Woof. It’s a tough one to answer. Let’s start with the defense.

The defense wasn’t terrible. Purely from a standpoint of the pieces versus the production, I was okay with the defensive performance this year.

With two starters on the defensive line, that could have gone a heck of a lot worse. Actually, let’s make note of the eight draft picks the Browns had last spring and how every one of them played and contributed this season. Granted, some of those minutes for Jordan Cameron came from showing up in the last few weeks to make a few catches here and there, but that still counts. Buster Skrine made tackles, Eric Hagg made tackles, Cameron made catches, Jason Pinkston did…well (he played), and Owen Marecic, Greg Little, Phil Taylor, and Jabaal Sheard all logged a lot of playing time.

From this we learned two things. First, the 2011 draft class was a productive one. These guys stepped in and contributed to an NFL team in their first year, even though that wasn’t really expected of the later-round picks. This also taught us that the team was bad enough coming into this year that eight rookies were able to make some kind of impact on the team. Either way, young guys getting experience in a less traumatic fashion than the way Tim Couch got his initial experience is generally extremely valuable.

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Are the Cleveland Browns on the right track?

I recently sat down with Zoneblitz.com to discuss that very notion, and in my heart of hearts, I do believe that they are. It’s hard to realize now, especially after a 4-12 season that saw the offense reach an epic level of ineptitude, but two consecutive successful drafts point to what could be a bright future.

You can read that full interview here.

And now, here are more Browns links on this Saturday afternoon:

• Will the Browns consider drafting Virginia CB Chase Minnifield? (Cleveland.com)
• If the Browns are going to get a quarterback this offseason, let it be Matt Flynn (Waiting for Next Year)
• The Browns hired Nolan Cromwell this week to serve as a senior offensive assistant (Canton Rep)
• Is it time to give up on the Cleveland Browns for good? (The Cleveland Fan)
• Cleveland selects Robert Griffin III in most recent Draft Countdown mock draft (Draft Countdown)
• NFL Draft analysis: Browns vs. Ravens (Canton Rep)

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We’ve reached the Final Four of the NFL playoffs, and the match-ups aren’t exactly what most of us expected. The New England Patriots take on the Baltimore Ravens (which isn’t all that surprising), while the surging New York Giants look to upset the San Francisco 49ers.

It should be noted that, in a season dominated by quarterbacks, two of the top-four defenses are still in the hunt (Baltimore and San Francisco). More so, quarterbacks like Joe Flacco and Alex Smith, who aren’t considered “elite,” have an opportunity to prove the pertinence of this school of thought: Solid, while not necessarily stellar, quarterback play and strong defense can win your team a championship.

But things could still swing the other way. Tom Brady and Eli Manning are both under center for explosive offensive teams with porous, yet opportunistic, defenses. The conference championship match-ups are going to be major clashes in style, and it will be intriguing to see which wins out.

So who wins this Sunday? Does Joe Flacco silence his critics? Will Tom Brady make another run at a Super Bowl? Do the Giants continue their remarkable playoff run? Will the 49ers build on their impressive fourth-quarter performance against the New Orleans Saints?

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In order to make repairs to their stadium, the Cleveland Browns are asking the city of Cleveland for $5.8 million, a six-year advance of the money that the team collects annually.

Currently, the city sets aside $850,000 a year to help pay for repairs to the stadium and while this proposition would exempt the city from paying that amount for six years of their 30-year lease, there’s no guarantee – yet – that the team won’t just ask for additional money in that time.

It’s a request that certainly comes at an interesting time. The Browns aren’t exactly putting a great product out on the field, and asking for $5.8 million up-front is sure to rub fans – and non-football fans in Cleveland – the wrong way.

Nevertheless, it might be worth putting up that money, as the sin tax – which helped build Cleveland Browns Stadium and will begin paying for repairs starting this year – expires in 2015. After that, the city must figure out another way to come up with the money. Paying $5.8 million of it now would at least give them extra time.

As of right now, that proposed payment includes $1.2 million that would go toward refurbishing club seats on the north and south sides, along with the east end zone. Another $750,000 will go toward waterproofing the concrete under those seats.

The rest of the $5.8 million would be used to repair and replace the concrete on ramps, walkways, and a plaza outside Cleveland Browns Stadium.

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It didn’t take long for this one to happen.

Unnamed “league sources” are speculating that the Cleveland Browns are interested in quarterback Robert Griffin III with the fourth overall pick in April’s NFL Draft.

It’s not hard to see why. The Browns have a big question at quarterback in Colt McCoy and have an extra first-round pick that could be utilized should the team want to trade up and secure Griffin.

However, like all reports leading up to the draft, this should be taken with a grain of salt. The Browns are likely interested in Griffin, but they wouldn’t tip their hand this early in the process. That is, of course, unless the Browns want other teams to believe that they are interested in Griffin to stir up talks for that No. 4 pick.

See how this works? Trying to figure out these reports will just end with you huddled in a corner, talking to yourself.

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How many ways can you describe something as being bad? How many synonyms for “awful” exist for the purposes of reviewing the 2011 version of the Cleveland Browns offense?

Without a doubt, the Browns’ experienced one of their worst offensive units of the expansion era this past season, accumulating only 218 total points (the fewest since the 2000 season and only one more point than the 1999 team). It was another season full of injuries to offensive playmakers, off-field issues, and questions at the quarterback position.

Here’s how this familiar story unfolded in 2011:

The Good

There wasn’t much about this offense to be excited about, though quarterback Colt McCoy showed signs of development at times. It’s still uncertain whether he can lead this team to the next level, but he deserves a real shot at it. Another season of draft picks and incoming free agents should provide just that.

And despite the storm of controversy that followed him throughout most of the season, running back Peyton Hillis closed out the 2011 season by showing glimpses of his break0ut 2010 season. In his last three games, Hillis rushed for 99, 112, and 30 yards, respectively, playing as if he realized that a new contract was on the line. It might not be enough to bring him back to Cleveland, but Hillis showed that, when healthy, he’s a key part of the offense.

McCoy finished the season completing 57.2 percent of his passes for 2,733 yards and 14 touchdowns to go along with 11 interceptions. Those are by no means stellar numbers, but he certainly did enough to warrant another look next season. Should the Browns choose to spend some of their top draft picks on offensive playmakers and sign a veteran or two, McCoy – and the rest of the offense – should look much-improved.

After all, it couldn’t get much worse.

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