Ehh...gotta disagree with you. The Browns were catching flak IMMEDIATELY for firing Chud...it didn't have anything to do with who they were or weren't targeting, it was all about them firing the coach after one season.
It could be because they've fired many coaches quick or that nobody pays attention to the Jags, it is hard to understand the Chud firing because IMO the Browns had one heck of coaching staff with coordinators like Turner and Horton.
IMO what it really came down to is Haslam ended up with somebody he truly did not want in Rod Chudzinski and was sold on Chud by others in the Front Office. That is why many reports came out that Haslam, Team President Joe Banner and GM (in name only) Michael Lombardi were not on the same page.
So yes they received some flak early for firing a coach after one year, however, perpetuated things by vacillating and having coaches remove themselves before they could come to a decision. Pettine ended up being the last man standing.
In the end, if they had hired Dan Quinn for example they could have saved some face from a PR standpoint and if the Seahawks even better and Quinn had shown interested in the Job, but Pettine like others told them hire me or I'm taking myself out and they hired him.
Haslam did not get the guy he set out to hire and will fire Pettine next year and hire Brian Schottenheimer after the Rams win the Super Bowl and bring a Schottenheimer back home to Cleveland.