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“Browns are gonna Browns? Fuck that. OK? The guys took that to heart. Thank you.”
That was Browns coach Todd Monken’s mic-drop walkoff moment after his team’s 23–19 upset victory over the Buccaneers in Tampa on Sunday.
Good for you, coach. On the surface, Monken was firing back at Mike Tomlin’s snide “Browns is the Browns” crack on NBC’s Football Night in America last week after Cleveland’s lopsided 34–10 Week 1 loss to the Jaguars. But to me, it was also a smart, strategic use of the media bully pulpit by a rookie coach trying to change a losing culture in Cleveland.
At a time when coaches such as Texas’s Steve Sarkisian and North Carolina’s Bill Belichick routinely embarrass themselves during post-game interviews, it was nice to see a first-year NFL head coach smartly view his press session as an opportunity rather than a burden.
Monken was not just talking to Tomlin. He was talking to embattled Browns fans, whose team has reached the playoffs only three times in the 21st century. He was talking to a dysfunctional organization which drafted Johnny Manziel, traded a boatload of picks for troubled Deshaun Watson and let Hall of Fame-caliber coaches like Belichick and Kyle Shanahan slip away.
Most importantly, he was talking to Browns players. The team has talent. If Monken can get Watson to play anywhere near his potential, and younger players to buy into his program, the Browns can do some damage.
It would have been easy for the Browns to be the Browns after their Week 1 shellacking at home. Instead, their lousy performance—and Tomlin’s bulletin board material—made them fighting mad, said Monken. His players were snapping, snarling, and scuffling in practice all week. Their coach was all for it. Also during his presser, Monken made it a point to say he has the back of the embattled Watson, who completed 24 of 30 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday.
“I believe in all of our players. I believe in our staff. I believe in this organization—and where we headed,” he said. “He just happens to be one of those pieces.”
I wasn’t the only one impressed by Monken’s post-game media performance. Mike Greenberg called it the “line of the day” on ESPN’s Get Up on Monday morning. Rex Ryan agreed. “I don’t like it, I love it,” said the ex-Jets coach.
The clip of Monken’s declaration went viral on social media. And a smiling Watson clearly appreciated his coach’s support. “Monk said what he said. That’s how we all feel,” noted the QB.
Tomlin has come racing out of the gate as the star of NBC’s revamped studio show. It was nice to see the former Steelers coach laugh off Monken’s response on Football Night in America without letting it mushroom into something bigger. “I’m glad that I can still motivate—although I’m not coaching anymore,” said the former coach. As a media talking head, Tomlin noted at halftime that he can now generate bulletin board material with “no personal consequence.”
Tomlin was actually quoting his former Steelers star JuJu Smith-Schuster. Before Pittsburgh’s AFC wild card playoff loss to Cleveland in January 2021, the wide receiver dismissed his opponents as the “Browns is the Browns.” Cleveland used it as a rallying cry and beat down Pittsburgh 48–37. It was the Browns’ first playoff win since 1994.
Look, Monk knows he’s coaching a franchise that’s never reached the Super Bowl and hasn’t won a championship since 1964. If Monken’s as media-savvy as I think he is, he’ll have somebody dissing his team every week. After all, “Browns are gonna Browns.”
