How Johnny Manziel failed his last great audition

— -- HE WAS THE man that day, for 20 minutes at least, and in the bowels of Arrowhead Stadium, a crowd of Kansas City workers gathered around a TV mouthing, GET HIM. Johnny Manziel slipped through tackles, dashed for 108 yards, more than any quarterback in Browns history. He drove the Cleveland Browns to Kansas City's 18-yard-line in the closing seconds, ran out of time and dropped an F-bomb as he slammed his helmet to the ground. But in two locker rooms, he was all the buzz. One of the linebackers who tried to chase him down, Dee Ford, used to play against Manziel back in college. Ford said it was like the old days of Johnny Football.

Cleveland safety Donte Whitner proclaimed, "I think we have a starting quarterback for next year."

What the Browns didn't know was that Manziel had made at least two visits to Bar Louie in the days leading up to the game, lingering one night until at least 11 p.m. Or that in a few hours, a video would surface showing him rapping while holding a flavored malt beverage called Four Loko. Or that within a week, Manziel would be ruled out for the season finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers because of a concussion. He would then show up for a meeting on Dec. 30 looking disheveled and unkempt, according to a team source. He would get a ticket for driving with expired plates. He would skip out on his team-mandated concussion treatment, around the same time rumors would begin to surface about his whereabouts, every alleged trip taking on legendary status worthy of a custom T-shirt.

But for a second, let's hold on to that hopeful day in Kansas City. Manziel was so dejected and passionate that he made people believe maybe he could handle all of this after all. Coach Mike Pettine, who would be fired at season's end, said he could see the fire in Manziel. "I think he took a step forward," he said after the game.

Just a few weeks earlier, Pettine had announced that Manziel would start the final four games of the season. Pettine didn't bill it as such, but it would be an audition for the embattled young quarterback who was placed in a timeout of sorts for lying about a party video shot in Austin, Texas, during the Browns' bye week, leading to another Austin taking his spot on the field.

But if Manziel could step up in these four weeks, showing maturity and leadership, perhaps he could assert himself as Cleveland's future. Perhaps people would stop questioning his commitment and behavior. At the very least, maybe he'd put together some film that could drum up interest from another team.

"I personally think the Browns won't keep him," one NFL source said in December, before Manziel's latest exploits. "Which should scare everybody because they know him better than anybody. They know the extent of how severe his problems are.

"They've been burned too many times to trust him."

Before he went AWOL, the plan was to follow Manziel, one of the most electrifying and flawed young players in the NFL, on his great audition. Could he prove in four weeks that he belonged as a starting quarterback in the NFL? The answers were supposed to come by watching him on the sidelines, on the field, with his team.

Instead, what emerged was a maddening picture of a 23-year-old who should've aced the test but couldn't hold it together.

MAYBE CLEVELAND'S POWERS that be, i.e. billionaire owner Jimmy Haslam, already knew how all of this was going to go down. The Browns' final four games featured three teams that would make the playoffs -- Seattle, Kansas City and Pittsburgh. With that schedule, and a battered supporting cast, it was unlikely Manziel was going to set the world on fire.

But there was hope in a place that could be considered the most depressing quarterback city in the NFL. Since 2002, the Browns have had 21 different starting quarterbacks. Think about that. That's the year Tom Brady started his first full season for New England. Cleveland desperately wanted to believe in Manziel. His teammates wanted to believe. When Manziel is on the field, he brings a different energy and excitement.

"You never know what he's going to do," veteran left tackle Joe Thomas says.

At the start of his four weeks, Manziel's publicist, Denise Michaels, says he won't be doing any one-on-one interviews. Manziel has kept her busy this season. In October, he was pulled over on the interstate after an argument with his girlfriend, Colleen Elizabeth Crowley, who said he'd been hitting her. (Crowley didn't press charges, and the NFL didn't punish Manziel). A month later, Manziel promised the Browns he'd behave himself in the bye week and wound up on that party video in Austin.

So no, Manziel will not be doing any soul-baring interviews. Numerous loyal people in his circle decline interviews, too. Manziel will only talk in his group sessions, Michaels says, because he wants his play to do the talking.

The great audition starts on the second weekend of December, on an unseasonably warm day in Cleveland. The Browns are on a seven-game losing streak and haven't won in more than two months. The good news is that San Francisco and its porous defense is in town; the bad news is the Browns looked atrocious the week before against Cincinnati.

Brady Quinn, another failed first-round quarterback pick back in 2007, is on the pregame broadcast. He predicts that the insertion of Manziel will boost the worn-down team. Quinn, by the way, was picked No. 22 overall in the draft, just like Manziel.

Manziel makes headlines before the game begins when a fan asks him to sign a $100 bill near the tunnel leading to the locker room. The quarterback scribbles something that appears to say, "Money Manziel," his nickname back at A&M. In various comments sections, fans immediately question his focus. Some even suggest he should be arrested for defacing money.

But Manziel is locked in. He completes passes of 8 yards, 9 yards, 23 yards to start the game. He slaps his hands together in frustration when he misfires on third-and-9. The Browns are up 10-3 in the second quarter when he's chased toward the sideline. Manziel throws across his body, is intercepted by Jaquiski Tartt and is so angry at himself that he slams a blue Microsoft Surface tablet against his head repeatedly.

It was a play the Browns had talked about during the week, and it went down exactly how they expected, minus the interception. Browns quarterbacks coach Kevin O'Connell, sensing his frustration, calls down to Manziel. "How's your head feel?" O'Connell asks.

"It hurts," Manziel replies.

O'Connell will later say that the incident was actually a sign of growth. Manziel recognized his mistake and learned from it. He throws for 270 yards, and the team seems energized. A defense that has put up only 17 sacks in the first 12 games collects nine against San Francisco, and the Browns win 24-10.

The people who work with him in the quarterbacks room, including veteran Josh McCown, a 36-year-old QB who has played on seven different NFL teams, are encouraged by the performance. McCown, who probably would have started if he wasn't out because of a broken collarbone, has been mentoring him. He says he has begun to understand his brain, at least on the field.

"He wants to win, and he's going to play hard, and he's going to lay it out there for his guys," McCown says. "You bang your head against the Surface because you put in so much time during the week. It bothers him because he cares."

After the game, Manziel puts on a white dress shirt and a dark suit. "Good game, Johnny!" a fan shouts as Manziel exits the locker room, clutching a football. "Merry Christmas!"

Manziel stops to sign every autograph before disappearing down a hallway. A few hours later, at a Marriott downtown, a group of fans sits at the bar, hesitant to get too excited. One of them says he misses Brian Hoyer, last year's starter who's now in Houston. They talk about Manziel's transgressions and wonder what's coming next. "Twenty-three years old and he's got the world by the butt," one fan says. "How sad."