The acrimonious union of Cleveland Browns coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley ended Monday in divorce.
Anyone who watched "Hard Knocks" this summer could see where that bumpy marriage was headed.
Neither was awarded custody; both Jackson and Haley were fired.
"The message today is we're not going to put up with internal discord," Browns owner Jimmy Haslam said Monday in a news conference with general manager John Dorsey. "We want people who are collaborative and work together."
The Browns chose a curious Mr. Right: defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, once suspended by the NFL for his role as mastermind of the infamous New Orleans pay-to-injure bounty scandal.
Williams takes over as interim coach as the Browns prepare to host 7-1 Kansas City, which, incidentally, once fired Haley as head coach.
"We had some concerns going into the game; obviously yesterday's performance was disappointing," Haslam said, referring to a 33-18 loss at Pittsburgh that dropped Cleveland to 2-5-1. "We had several of our key people involved in this conversations last night and this morning and did what we think's best for the organization."
Such is the NFL's soap opera du jour, which also includes this coincidence, noted on Twitter by @PFTCommenter: Jackson is the sixth consecutive Browns coach fired after losing the second matchup of the season with the Steelers, the other five being Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Pat Shurmur, Rob Chudzinski and Mike Pettine.
Then again, all five of those were dismissed at the end of the season. Jackson is the first Browns coach to be fired during the season since Butch Davis in 2004. The franchise is a veritable Factory of Firing, on its 19th head coach since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970.
The Steelers have had three head coaches during that span _ the same number of wins the Browns have had in the last 2 { seasons.
