BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns have fired coach Freddie Kitchens after a disheartening season that didn’t come close to meeting expectations.

Kitchens was let go Sunday night, just hours after the Browns were beaten by the lowly Cincinnati Bengals (2-14) to finish 6-10 and miss the playoffs for the 17th straight year.

Earlier, Kitchens held out hope he would be back for a second season, saying after the 33-23 loss in Cincinnati, “I’m going to show up tomorrow (Monday) and do my job.”

But owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam decided one season was enough and parted ways with Kitchens, who was a surprising hire a year ago because he had no previous head coaching experience. His successful eight-game stretch as the team’s offensive coordinator to end 2018 had sent his stock soaring.

Kitchens was plagued by numerous mistakes in his rookie season, with game management and an inability to get Cleveland’s offense rolling among his most notable flaws.

“We thank Freddie for his hard work and commitment to this organization but did not see the success or opportunities for improvement,” the Haslams said in a statement.