Lessons learned: What QB changes meant to Bears compared to Browns

Offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains gives QB Mitch Trubisky a play on the sideline. (AP)

Adam L. Jahns’ “Inside the Huddle” column runs in game-day editions of the Chicago Sun-Times.

In 2014, nearly three-quarters of the way through their season, the Browns were in a fight in the AFC North. They were competitive, winning games. And, as crazy as it sounds now, they had the playoffs in mind.

“We started off 7-4, and [quarterback] Brian Hoyer was having a good, solid year — not great, but a good, solid year for us,” said Bears offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, who was the Browns’ quarterbacks coach that year — his only season with the team.

In Week 12, the Browns beat the Falcons 26-24 in Atlanta and had the same record, 7-4, as the Steelers (who eventually won the division) and the Ravens. They were ahead of the Bengals, at 7-3-1.

Yes, the Browns were in it . . . and then they gave the ball to rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel.

“We hit a little adversity and played bad on offense for a couple games and then pulled the plug [on Hoyer] when we probably shouldn’t have,” Loggains said. “Brian was playing well enough where I thought we had a chance. We’re 7-4 and just beat the Bengals on ‘Thursday Night Football’ [in Week 10] — first place in the division. And we finished 7-9.”

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After consecutive losses to the Bills and Colts, Manziel replaced Hoyer in the Week 15 rematch against the Bengals, which the Browns lost 30-0 at home five weeks after beating the Bengals 24-3 on the road. The next week, the Browns lost 17-13 to the Panthers, falling to 7-8. Manziel didn’t finish the game because of a hamstring injury.

And the Browns had turned into a loser again.

“Sometimes there’s a time to stay patient, and sometimes there’s a time to pull the plug,” Loggains said.

He had that lesson in mind when the Bears made the decision to jump-start rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky’s development and sit Mike Glennon in Week 5.

“It affected me here,” Loggains said. “When it was decided to go Glennon to Trubisky, it was, ‘Let’s make sure we’re doing the right thing. Let’s grind this tape hard. Let’s go back and watch it. [Let’s] make sure this move is going to positively affect the organization and not set the quarterback back, which is obviously going to set the organization back.’ ”

The Bears obviously were in a much different spot at that point than the 2014 Browns had been in. Glennon wasn’t playing well enough to win, while Hoyer had a winning record with the Browns. Trubisky and Manziel also are different players, especially in terms of personality, work ethic and leadership intangibles. And Bears players already believed in Trubisky — who had impressed veterans starting in the offseason program — while Manziel was a different story.

But the biggest difference was in how the Bears reached the decision to start Trubisky, which wasn’t anything like what happened in Cleveland. There was a consensus to start him, much like there was to draft him. The Browns never had that with Manziel, the No. 22 pick in 2014.

During the draft, Loggains had famously received a text message from Manziel that said, “I want to wreck this league together,” which Loggains forwarded to owner Jimmy Haslam. But Loggains and Kyle Shanahan — the Browns’ offensive coordinator in 2014 and now the 49ers’ head coach — also liked Derek Carr and Jimmy Garoppolo in that class.

The Browns fired Loggains after the 2014 season, while Shanahan was granted his release after he asked then-Browns coach Mike Pettine for it. The season had been full of discord, including then-general manager Ray Farmer sending in-game texts to coaches questioning their play-calling and personnel usage. (Farmer was suspended four games for it, and the Browns were fined $250,000.)

When Bears GM Ryan Pace drafted Trubisky in April, he believed he was the best quarterback — and knew that Loggains, director of player personnel Josh Lucas, director of college scouting Mark Sadowski and other scouts viewed him in the same light.

“I don’t know if [that Browns season] changed me at all,” Loggains said. “It was ‘never forget the grind of watching the tape and don’t make decisions based on outside noise or political reasons.’

“When you do things, you have to be right. You’re obligated as an organization to be right. When you make a quarterback switch, you have to be right, because your organization depends on it, your fans depend on it — your locker room depends on it. When you make these moves, you have to do it right for the right reasons at the right time and handle it the right way, with honesty and a very clear picture of why these things are happening.”

For the Bears, that meant accepting that Trubisky would struggle, but that speeding up his development could benefit the team in 2018.

“That decision was wrong [in Cleveland],” Loggains said. “We were right [with Trubisky]. What’s different is just the process of getting there. As an organization, we made the decision based on what we felt was what’s best for the football team here.”

Time will tell if Loggains gets more time with Trubisky. The Bears are 4-10 and looking at major changes, starting with coach John Fox.

But Loggains strongly stands by the switch to Trubisky, believing Trubisky’s second NFL season will prove them all right.

“[These games] are going to be what helps him make that huge jump in the second year,” Loggains said. “He [got] to accumulate all these reps and play and battle through adversity and understand what it’s like to be a starter and establish himself in the locker room as a leader — as a franchise quarterback.”

TWITTER MAILBAG

@JoshuaDolph: Everyone says the Bears need to draft a [No. 1] WR. I think they need to address [that] in free agency to get value in the draft. What do you think?

A: They’ll definitely do both. As always, general manager Ryan Pace will try to use free agency to limit his draft needs. That said, it’s imperative that he adds weapons around quarterback Mitch Trubisky. That should start with re-signing Cameron Meredith (a restricted free agent), Dontrelle Inman and Kendall Wright. After that, it’s difficult to say who the best receivers will be in free agency. Will the Packers really let Davante Adams test the market? He has a big day coming.

As for the draft, it will be important not to reach on a receiver just because it’s a need. The Bears will have a top-10 pick, but their board might not include a receiver in that slot. Adams, Jarvis Landry (Dolphins), Allen Robinson (Jaguars), Michael Thomas (Saints), JuJu Smith-Schuster (Steelers), Cooper Kupp (Rams) and Tyler Lockett (Seahawks) are recent examples of good receivers found on Day 2.

@PegasusPlayers: At what point do the Bears move on from Kyle Long? He’s great on the field, but injuries have been mounting.

A: They’ve been more than mounting — they’ve been ravaging. Long just underwent neck surgery for a herniated disc. More surgeries are coming for other ailments.

Long has three years left on his contract. There’s an affordable way for the Bears to get out of it after the 2019 season, but they aren’t going to give up on Long — and shouldn’t. He’s a Pro Bowl-caliber player, a tough-as-nails leader and an important part of the culture. Trubisky loves him. You don’t give up on a star unless you’re replacing him with another star.

EXTRA POINTS

The Jaguars example

With the Bears considering coaching changes, the Eagles and Rams are often cited as examples to follow, but don’t overlook what has happened with the Jaguars.

The Jaguars’ top-rated defense — a blend of draft picks and big free-agent signings — gets a lot of the attention, but their offense is fifth in scoring and sixth in total yards. Quarterback Blake Bortles, the third overall pick in 2014, hasn’t played as well as the Eagles’ Carson Wentz or the Rams’ Jared Goff, but he has career-best marks this season in completion percentage (61.0 percent), passer rating (89.7) and interception rate (1.8 percent).

Bortles’ bust-to-boom success shows how an offensive-minded head coach can help a quarterback. In Week 16 last year, the Jaguars fired Gus Bradley (formerly the Seahawks’ defensive coordinator) after four seasons and replaced him with Doug Marrone, previously the Jaguars’ offensive line coach and assistant head coach. Marrone’s background is on the offensive line, but he also was the Saints’ offensive coordinator from 2006 to 2008 under coach Sean Payton, with quarterback Drew Brees.

Bears general manager Ryan Pace — a former member of the Saints’ front office — knew that, too. He interviewed Marrone before his first meeting with John Fox in 2015.

Weakness vs. weakness

Browns rookie DeShone Kizer leads all NFL quarterbacks with 19 interceptions this season. Meanwhile, the Bears’ defense is tied with the Browns’ for the second fewest interceptions (six).

The Bears, though, appear to have the advantage. Kizer has five interceptions in his last three games. Bears cornerbacks Kyle Fuller and Prince Amukamara and safety Eddie Jackson, meanwhile, have combined for eight pass breakups and one interception over the last three weeks.

“We’ve had our hands on our share of balls,” Fox said. “We just haven’t come down with them.”

Follow me on Twitter @adamjahns.

Email: ajahns@suntimes.com