There weren’t many fans around football excited for the Cleveland Browns when they hired Todd Monken as the team’s next head coach. The optics of it made it feel like a last resort decision since the Browns were the last of ten teams to hire a coach, and a 60-year-old with no head coaching experience at any level isn’t the easiest sell to a fan base that has been through one failed regime after another over the years.
Nobody is criticizing the Browns anymore now that the team is 3-1 and on the verge of matching their longest winning streak in 40 years. Monken is doing everything he said he was going to do and changing the culture along the way, and he’s doing it all with the same charm and honesty he always displayed.
He was honest again while speaking with the media when he recalled the time he interviewed for the New York Jets’ head coaching job in 2019. He wound up losing the job to Adam Gase and had a great quote to sum up how he dealt with the disappointment.
“Don’t ever forget that you’re a Mercedes when you look in the mirror. You can’t control if they wanted a Lexus,” said Monken.
#Browns HC Todd Monken recalls what he was told after interviewing for the #Jets’ HC job in 2019, when they ultimately hired Adam Gase.
“Don’t ever forget that you’re a Mercedes when you look in the mirror. You can’t control if they wanted a Lexus.” pic.twitter.com/l7Fsqx1qYS
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) October 9, 2026
That’s a bar, as the kids would say. That’s the kind of stuff you put on a bulletin board in a locker room to fire up a team to match its longest winning streak since 1986.
The Gase era couldn’t have gone much worse in New York and Monken probably has a little extra motivation heading into Sunday’s matchup with the Jets. Monken can also take solace in all the success he has had since 2019, winning two national championships with Georgia and orchestrating some of the most electric offenses this league has ever seen with the Baltimore Ravens.
Monken certainly looks like a Mercedes so far. If he beats the Jets and can keep this winning streak going, he might even be a Ferrari.
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