Will Cleveland Browns coach Romeo Crennel return next season?

His chances are slim and fading.

It's looking more like this might be Crennel's last stand now that the Browns are 4-7 following three consecutive defeats at home.

The frustrated mutts in the Dawg Pound began chanting "Cow-her!, Cow-her!" in support of CBS studio analyst Bill Cowher in the second half of a miserable 16-6 defeat to the Houston Texans at Cleveland Stadium last weekend.

Team owner Randy Lerner heard them.

In a rare interview Tuesday, Lerner indicated he will wait until the season concludes before deciding the fate of Crennel and general manager Phil Savage.

The Browns, out of the AFC playoff picture with five games remaining, finished 10-6 and sent six players to the Pro Bowl last season. The team has endured locker room sniping among teammates, a quarterback change from Pro Bowler Derek Anderson to unproven second-year hot shot Brady Quinn, a rash of injuries that includes Quinn missing the rest of the season with a broken finger, and Savage sending a profane e-mail response to a disgruntled fan after a second-half collapse at Buffalo on Nov. 17.

Savage was forced to apologize to the fan.

"I will take issues and concerns and criticisms very seriously and think through them and evaluate them in January," Lerner told reporters.

Brrr! That's a chilling response.

Lerner is left to ponder if Savage or Crennel has the right stuff to transform the Browns, who are 24-35 and haven't reached the NFL playoffs since both men were hired in 2005, into a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

I predict Savage will survive. He just needs to let a secretary handle his e-mail.

No free pass for Crennel.

He is responsible for the locker room splitting apart, teammates pointing fingers at one another and fans turning against him in frustration.

Lerner should speak with Cowher.

If he somehow persuades the former Pittsburgh Steelers coach to return to the sideline, the intense and iron-jawed Cowher, who began his NFL career with the Browns as a linebacker in 1980-82, would be a perfect fit for that job.

If the Lions have any interest in approaching Cowher about him replacing the beleaguered Rod Marinelli, they had better pick up the phone fast.

Or Cowher might be going, going ... gone.

It is Terrell Owens' world and we're privileged to live in it, right?

Exactly.

It's all about T.O. whenever he opens his big mouth.

He blamed Dallas offensive coordinator Jason Garrett for not featuring him enough in the passing game and, as a result, the Cowboys struggling on the field. He seemed to forget all of his dropped passes this season.

"I don't like it," Owens said in an exclusive interview with NFL Network commentator Deion Sanders before the Cowboys' 35-22 win against the San Francisco 49ers last weekend. "The thing is, if Garrett is smart enough to know what's made me successful in all my years, he'll go back to the offense and the type of formations and things that I did that was successful in San Francisco."

Owens responded with seven catches for 213 yards and a touchdown against the 49ers, proving he still is capable of being a difference maker on the field.

"They unleashed me," T.O. proclaimed while thumping his chest after the game. "When I get my hands on the ball, things happen. It's not a mystery."

Of course not.

I'll leave the final comment to Fox studio analyst Howie Long: "T.O.'s been in the league for the past 13 years. What do the last 13 Super Bowl champions have in common?

"No T.O."

It must be the fault of quarterbacks Steve Young, Jeff Garcia, Donovan McNabb and Tony Romo for T.O. not getting a Super Bowl ring.

Yeah, right.