Even in a blowout, 2-10 Cleveland Browns don't let Johnny Manziel play

The Cleveland Browns trailed 37-3 in the fourth quarter, and quarterback Johnny Manziel never got off the bench.

That seems to be a good sign that the Browns have moved on from Manziel. If the 2-10 Browns have no interest in seeing what their 2014 first-round pick has to offer in a game they trailed by five scores, then when? And if they go to him later this season, Sunday's decision to keep him nailed to the bench and waste a week of evaluation seems weirder.

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen said Manziel might start again if “he meets certain conditions,” and it’s OK if you roll your eyes at that and wonder what the Browns are thinking.

But that’s the Browns. There’s no plan, no hope, and the whole thing is going to be blown up and started over soon. The three most important people in an organization are, almost without fail, the coach, general manager and quarterback. And the Browns will likely hit the reset button on all three spots.

There have been reports and rumors of a power struggle over Manziel, and most of that speculation involves Pettine not wanting the second-year quarterback. And that seems possible after Manziel didn’t play Sunday. No matter how many times Pettine says he’d like to see Manziel succeed in Cleveland, actions speak. Starting Austin Davis Sunday was strange. Keeping Manziel on the sideline in a blowout was even stranger. The Browns punished Manziel for partying on the bye week and lying about it, and now they’re just hurting their football team to make whatever point.

But that’s the Browns. Not much makes sense. Leaving a terrible third-string quarterback like Davis in the game as a passive aggressive way of blaming Manziel sums it all up. General manager Ray Farmer has had four first-round picks the last two years and hasn’t hit on any (Manziel and cornerback Justin Gilbert are almost definitely going down as historic busts, and guard Cameron Erving hasn’t shown anything either) and Farmer’s texting controversy last season won’t help him stick around. Pettine did some good things last year, but his seat has to be really hot.

So the Browns go into another offseason in which the first order of business, one would imagine, is tearing everything down: new coach, new GM, new quarterback. For Browns fans for have wanted to see one playoff win from the new Browns, after 17 seasons of futility, another year or five (or 17) of rebuilding awaits first.