The Super Bowl officially brings an end to the 2013 season, which means the Cleveland Browns can again spend an offseason trying to answer the question that has been raging since 1999.
Who will be the quarterback?
New coach Mike Pettine made no secret of the importance of the quarterback, as he said the day he was hired that a team needs a great quarterback to win. Seattle might disagree. Its great defense made a great quarterback look pedestrian Sunday night (spare me the completion record).
Regardless, Pettine and the Browns have some decisions to make about the future.
If it’s a given that the Browns release Brandon Weeden and perhaps even Jason Campbell (just a guess there), that leaves Brian Hoyer from last year’s roster.
What does Pettine think of Hoyer?
“I think he’s a winner,” Pettine said.
There was more.
“I think the intangibles with Brian are off the chart,” he said. “He’s a football junkie. You can tell he loves the game. Came from a system where he learned from one of the best in the game, and I think that showed on the field.”
A video on ClevelandBrowns.com, in which a cameraman followed Pettine around the building on his first day, includes a moment where he and Hoyer chat. So the two have met personally.
But the addition of Kyle Shanahan as offensive coordinator almost certainly will bring talk of Kirk Cousins coming to Cleveland.
Cousins was the fourth-round pick taken in the same year Robert Griffin III was the second pick of the draft. He’s worked with Shanahan for two years, and would figure to know well any system Shanahan installs.
And he looked pretty good in his first start as a rookie when he thumped the Browns.
Of course, there’s the draft as well, with Johnny Manziel, Blake Bortles and Teddy Bridgewater the top options.
The debate has barely started, but it will rage all spring -- just like it did two years ago and so many times before.
Today marks the first of several polls we’ll take on the situation. And we’re operating on the assumption that Shanahan’s hiring will take place this week.
Tell us the quarterback you’d like to see as the Browns opening day starter in 2014.
We’ll be back in a couple days with the results.