“Black Monday” just seized its first victim.

Following the team’s 5-11 season, the Browns have decided to fire coach Eric Mangini, who had two years remaining on his contract. When the Browns hired him in December of last year, Mike Holmgren retained Mangini hoping that the success the Browns had at the end of 2010 would carry over into 2011. But Cleveland sputtered again under Mangini’s guidance.

There’s speculation that Holmgren will return to the sidelines next season to coach the Browns, but ESPN’s Chris Mortensen believes that he’ll remain the team’s President. If Holmgren does become the Browns’ next coach, he’ll install the West Coast-style offense that guided the Packers to two Super Bowls and the Seahawks to one.

If he doesn’t return to the sidelines, there are rumors circulating that John Fox is at the top of Holmgren’s wish list. Fox was informed last week that the Panthers, whom he spent nine years with from 2002-2010, would not renew his contract. He compiled a 73-71 record in Carolina, going 5-3 in the playoffs and reaching the Super Bowl in 2003.

There are many fans and media members that like Fox and believe he can succeed now that he’s out of Jerry Richardson’s claws. But I’m not one of them.

As I’ve written many times before on this blog, the Panthers were the models of inconsistency under Fox throughout his tenure. Not once did the team finish with back-to-back winning records and while Fox is highly regarded as a coach who gets the most out of his players, he seemed to be lacking in the Xs and Os department. His decision-making was questionable at best, most notably in his loyalty to Jake Delhomme (who was finished years ago but still manages to trick teams into giving him money) and his desire to see receiver Steve Smith get away with everything. Fox is also known for his defenses, but Carolina’s secondary was seemingly an issue every year. (That’s not all on him of course, but he takes a lot of the blame.)

If Holmgren doesn’t want to coach, he should handpick someone young and energetic. The Browns are a young themselves and they’re only going to get younger as Holmgren builds through the draft. Fox wouldn’t be an Eric Mangini-like disaster but maybe Cleveland would be better served not going the retread route.

The New York Jets officially canned Eric Mangini after the team failed to make the playoffs.

The clincher was the Jets’ 24-17 loss to Miami on Sunday that gave the Dolphins the AFC East title.

“We don’t take this decision lightly,” Jets owner Woody Johnson said at a Monday morning news conference. “We respect Eric for what he’s done but we want to build on the successful foundation he has laid.”

Mangini, 37, was 23-26 in three seasons with the Jets, including 0-1 in the playoffs.

“For the current New York Jets organization, we’ve made the decision to move on,” Johnson said. “It’s a judgment call.”

The Jets acquired Brett Favre before the season started and ran off to an 8-3 start. But losses to Denver, at San Francisco, at Seattle and to Miami over the final four weeks left New York outside of the playoffs for the second straight season.

Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum said Monday the organization wants the 39-year-old Favre to return for 2009 and fulfill the final year of his contract.

There was an interesting tidbit on the bottom line of ESPN News Sunday night that said Favre didn’t have fun playing for the Jets this year because he was often scolded in front of the team by Mangini for making poor decisions and bad throws. Don’t know if Mangini’s release will mean Favre will stay, but it probably couldn’t hurt.

It’s amazing how just three years ago Mangini was highly regarded and was considered one of the bright young minds in football. Now he’s out of a job. I’m sure many Jet fans won’t miss his emotionless, expressionless body language on the sidelines.