Browns lose to Bears, 30-6
November 1st, 2009 at 11:59 pm by Displaced Cleveland Fan
Another week. Another loss. This time it was a 24-point beating at the hands of Chicago which lost by 35 the previous week against Cincinnati. The Browns are terrible. If not for a botched punt return by Buffalo, they would be 0-8 right now.
Coach Eric Mangini has stubbornly stuck with QB Derek Anderson, despite four straight awful starts. Coming into this game, Anderson had a league-worst QB rating of 40.6. His 10.5 rating today won’t help. Against the Bears he was 6 for 17 (35%) for 76 yards and 2 interceptions. What’s funny, in a sad sort of way, is that the Bears returned the 2 interceptions for a total of 56 yards - just 20 less than Anderson’s total on 6 completions to Browns receivers.
So why is Anderson still starting? Does it have to do with the fact that the Browns will save money by not having to pay Brady Quinn bonuses for failing to reach 70% of the snaps? Or is it something else? Apparently, Browns owner Randy Lerner is not happy about what is going on. Mary Kay Cabot of the Plain Dealer reports that Lerner is not yet ready to fire Mangini, but he is looking to bring in a “strong, credible, serious leader.” Perhaps Mangini is the one now on the short leash.
In a somewhat surprising move, Mangini did bench Anderson late in the game in favor of Brady Quinn. He wasn’t on the field much, and was only 1 for 3 passing for 9 yards. Of course, those stats were good enough for a 42.4 QB rating - higher than D.A.’s before his awful performance today.
Hopefully, the move of Anderson to the bench is permanent for the remainder of the season. Right now, I don’t care who starts - Quinn, Ratliff, Cribbs - as long as it’s not Anderson. The Browns have a bye week coming up (thankfully). It will be interesting to see what happens in the next two weeks. Could Quinn take back the starting role? Could Mangini be fired? This might get interesting.
But if all of that wasn’t enough, running back Jamal Lewis is talking about retiring after the season is over. There’s another position the Browns will have to address in the draft.
-dcf
Tags: Brady Quinn, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Derek Anderson, Eric Mangini, Jamal Lewis, Randy Lerner
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:38 am
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