Following a 33-18 road loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cleveland Browns have fired head coach Hue Jackson, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Cleveland sits at 2-5-1 on the season now, having lost three consecutive games after a promising 2-2-1 start. Rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield has exceeded expectations, and the defense has been excellent in every aspect.
But despite the improvement on the field, it wasn't enough for the Browns to keep Jackson. His record in Cleveland ends at a woeful 3-36-1 record, highlighted by an 0-16 campaign in 2017.
Many were surprised that Cleveland was patient enough to keep Jackson after a 1-15 2016 season, followed by a winless year. Jackson helped Mayfield make an immediate impact, and the defense led by Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward and Jamie Collins has been one of the NFL's best in 2018.
As Schefter noted, Jackson's firing follows a very interesting trend for the other Cleveland coaches that were handed the pink slip:
After spending one year as head coach of the Oakland Raiders (an 8-8 record in 2011), Jackson joined the Cincinnati Bengals and became their offensive coordinator for the 2014 and '15 seasons. Jackson's work there didn't go unnoticed, and the Browns hired him to try and fix the mess in 2016.
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But at the end of the day, there was little Jackson could do to fix a team that had wasted most of its top draft picks. Cleveland also got hosed in plenty of trades throughout the years, and the front office didn't attempt to recruit any top free agents.
So the Browns' struggles cannot completely fall on Jackson's shoulders. He stayed humble and did everything in his power to try and help this team win. The Browns got off to a promising start in 2018, but the mistakes and losses have continued to pile up.
Jackson becomes the fifth head coach from the Browns to get fired in the 2010s decade alone. And unless the team starts to use its draft picks accordingly, he certainly will not be the last one anytime soon.
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