PITTSBURGH: Hue Jackson has publicly pledged four times to win a Super Bowl with the Browns, yet he finished 1-15 in his first season as their coach.
Jackson’s opportunity to resurrect the franchise is still alive, though, because owner Jimmy Haslam promised to stick with the new regime after Sunday’s 27-24 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the season finale at Heinz Field.
“We’re 1-15. I never would have thought that in a million years, but we are,” Jackson said. “We can’t run from that. Hopefully everybody has a fire in their belly to change it, because I know that’s what I’m going to do. I’m sure that’s what we all want to do.”
Jackson doesn’t plan to waste any time decompressing after the Browns set the franchise record for losses in a season. He wants to get back to work right away to kick off a crucial offseason in which the Browns will own the first and 12th overall picks in April’s draft.
“I want to dive in as fast as I can,” Jackson said. “I’m probably more determined to fix this now and faster than I ever have been before in my life, because I don’t like this. I have colleagues and people I compete against, and I never would have thought we’d be 1-15.
“I don’t like to be associated with that. I’m the head of it. So, to me, we have to fix it as fast as we can. There’s a plan, but we have to work our plan and do it right and make sure we get to where we need to be ’cause I don’t want to feel like this anymore.”
Jackson said he would have rather earned a winning streak to end the season — the Browns had their first victory of his tenure against the San Diego Chargers on Christmas Eve to avoid the dreaded record of 0-16 — than the No. 1 overall pick.
The San Francisco 49ers, who lost 25-23 to the Seattle Seahawks, would have owned the top pick and the Browns would have been granted the No. 2 choice had they triumphed in Pittsburgh.
“Maybe [the top pick] is important as you sit here now, and it’s over with,” Jackson said. “What I thought was more important was the locker room and our players and their fight and their grit and trying to win. You didn’t see a team that laid down.
“You saw a team that was trying to win, had a chance to win and should have won, in my opinion. We just didn’t do enough of the right things to finish it. We weren’t coming here worried about a No. 1 pick. ... Those guys gave it everything they had. I’m proud of them for it.”
That attitude is among the reasons Browns players are happy Haslam is keeping Jackson.
“I think everybody in this building is convinced he’s the man for the job,” wide receiver Andrew Hawkins said. “We’ve got to shore up some other things that are out of his control. Within the building, if you ask anybody, they’ll tell you he’s changing the culture — and fast. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Sometimes things get worse before they get better. I think we’re laying a good foundation, and it starts with Hue Jackson.”
Left tackle Joe Thomas, a 10-time Pro Bowl selection, said Haslam made the right call by avoiding another blowup of the coaching staff and front office.
“The No. 1 thing that this organization’s been missing since I’ve been here is consistency and stability,” Thomas said. “So I think that’s what we have. He’s exactly right. He’s got the right people in place. Now we just need to allow everything to percolate.”
The Browns had the youngest team in the NFL during the 2016 season and finished as the worst.
Still, Jackson said “there’s no question” he can lead a turnaround.
“Our fans probably don’t feel that way. I get that. I respect that,” Jackson said. “You know, 1-15 doesn’t say you’re heading in the right direction. It says that things are status quo and not as good, but I would hope that our fans would hang with us. I think that if people would look at our team, they’d see a young team that fights hard and some veterans that play extremely hard, and a team that’s together. I don’t think there’s any [problem with] what we do or how we do it. We just need to continue to get better in all areas.
“I’m going to go back and look at everything from top to bottom. We’ll do that and take our time in doing that because my charge is to get this organization and football team where it needs to be along with our executive group. I know that’s their charge. That’s my charge. That’s what we’re going to do.
“It’s not going to be easy decisions that we’re going to have to make, but there will be some that we have to make to get this organization up to where it needs to be. I feel comfortable that the support is there and that’s what we’ll do.”