In this week’s Monday Morning Quarterback, CEO Joe Banner said that Kelly was simply “too big a gamble,” citing his near-commitment to the Buccaneers last season before going back to Oregon.

“We removed ourselves from the process. We really liked Chip. He’s intriguing, a very different thinker, and very smart. But you could see he was uncertain what he wanted to do,” Banner said. “He may be in Philadelphia 10 years or longer and have a terrific career. But the fact he committed to Tampa Bay last year, backed out, then seemed all year to be leaning toward going to the NFL, then being so uncertain with us, we just felt it was too big a gamble. If there was no ambivalence, we may have offered him the job.”

It’s pretty hard to buy that, considering how invested the Browns seemed in hiring Kelly right from the start. And, if you choose to believe those infamous “sources,” the Browns actually seemed pretty close to landing him.

But they didn’t and that’s that. The Browns should be looking forward with Rob Chudzinski rather than making it look like they walked away from Kelly. It doesn’t matter anymore.

Of course, Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone agreed to go to the Bills, and the Browns were believed to be interested in him as well.

So with their No. 1 and possibly No. 2 choices out of the running, who is it going to be?

If you really want to dream wildly, you’ll think there is a chance that Jon Gruden will come to Cleveland. Despite another vaunted “league source” that says the Browns will go after Gruden, it’s very hard (see also: impossible) to think he’ll be the next head coach.

As for the more realistic options, the Browns are going to interview Montreal Alouettes head coach Marc Trestman, along with Colts offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who is said to be very interested in the gig (which is what you want in a candidate, right?).

Of course, the Browns already interviewed a candidate they supposedly like in former Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt. Between him and former Bears head coach Lovie Smith, who certainly deserves a look, the Browns still have very solid options in front of them.

They may be plans B, C, D, or even E, but losing Chip Kelly isn’t the end of the world.

It’s not worth speculating any further, because it seems as if no one really knows what has gone on during the past few days. Now, according to a source (and reported by the Plain Dealer’s Mary Kay Cabot), the Browns walked away from Kelly because they didn’t feel that he was 100 percent committed to coaching in the NFL.

Right.

What really happened is that they were spurned on Saturday when Kelly met with the Philadelphia Eagles for an extended period of time (missing dinner with Cleveland), after it was reported on Friday that he and the Browns were very close to agreeing on a deal.

This forced the Browns to go into damage control, because they seemingly overplayed their hand in their strong push for Kelly. Now, they have to look as though they’re stepping away to save face and hopefully prevent the new, actual  head coach from being put in an awkward position (though we all know that is unavoidable at this point).

Judging by how weird this courtship of Chip Kelly got, could there have been a more appropriate welcome to Cleveland for owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner?