Most general managers in the NFL get the opportunity to hire two head coaches during their tenure before they are the one placed squarely on the chopping block. So, Browns GM Mike Lombardi is officially on the clock.
Speaking of Lombardi, there were multiple reports that part of the reason for Chud's firing was his refusal to send a message by cutting an unnamed player during the season.
Excuse me? Since when did Chud get control over the composition of the 53-man roster? I must have missed that one. The answer is never which means that Lombardi or team president Joe Banner or owner Jimmy Haslam all could have easily made the move they evidently deemed necessary for the team going forward. Why did they need Chud's permission? They didn't, which is why the report makes no sense. How about some accountability on the part of whomever leaked that ridiculous report to multiple members of the media?
Speaking of Haslam, what does this say about him? One year at the helm and already firing a head coach, amid a report that the coach declined to fire a player in order to "send a message" to the team? Is there a chance we have the NFL's version of George Steinbrenner among us?
I was only around one situation where a head coach was fired after one season and that set that franchise back for years. It was 2001 in Washington and owner Dan Snyder parted ways with Marty Schottenheimer despite the fact that the team rallied from an 0-5 start to finish 8-8 and was clearly heading in the right direction under a Hall of Fame caliber head coach. Snyder and Schottenheimer evidently had a personality conflict so Snyder removed the proven NFL winner in favor of Steve Spurrier and the rest, as they say, is history. And not the good kind of history ...
As for Chudzinski himself, this is probably the best thing that could've happened to him if the front office didn't believe in him, which it clearly didn't. Which by the way begs the question of why the Browns hired him in the first place. He gets to keep the remaining $10.5 million on his contract and I'm not sure other organizations will even look at his one year as a genuine opportunity. He gets the money and a mulligan, and as such, should recycle in a year or two back on the front burner of owners looking for a bright young offensive mind.
That's how you do it in the NFL. 
