Cleveland Browns hire Mike Pettine as head coach

When you're pooching an empty can down the dirt road called misery lane, remember that for all of your complaints about the Cincinnati Bengals, "you don't live in Cleveland".

Seemingly out of nowhere, the Cleveland Browns put an end to the one-year experience, firing Rob Chudzinski, earlier this month. And it shocked everyone.

"I talked to some of the players right after they fired Chud and they sounded deflated, confused and frankly embarrassed by what happen," former Browns linebacker Scott Fujita said. "I’ve been out of football for a year now and I’m a fan of the Cleveland Browns. It’s hard to watch what is going on there. I really feel bad for the fans and players like D’Qwell (Jackson) and Joe Thomas who have been there for so long."

Their endless search for a head coach included two "thanks but no thanks" in New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase (hard not to if you're Gase though, with the Super Bowl and all).

On Thursday, Cleveland announced that they've hired Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Mike Pettine. We're just waiting for the "we had liked Pettine this entire time" line.

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam: 'Mike is the epitome of what we want the Browns to be -- tough, aggressive and innovative.'

— Aaron Wilson (@RavensInsider) January 23, 2014

#Browns CEO Joe Banner on Pettine: "We interviewed as many people as we could. From that group, we hired the best individual for this job."

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 23, 2014

By most accounts, Pettine is a good hire who has done creative things for the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills. He was the defensive coordinator for the Jets in '09 that shut down Cincinnati's staggeringly one-sided offense -- not that we're drawing any more comparison than that.