Kevin Stefanski may be on the proverbial hot seat in the social media world, but it appears the Cleveland Browns’ head coach is not in any danger of being dismissed after this season.
The Browns have badly underachieved with a 3-8 record but have won two of their past four games, both against AFC North rivals in the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers.
And the win over the Steelers came in frigid, snowy conditions in which a bad team might fold.
Cleveland even blew a 12-point fourth-quarter lead against Pittsburgh but remained engaged and recovered for a 24-19 victory. That’s a team that is still playing extremely hard for its head coach.
Stefanski certainly hasn’t been as good a coach as last season, when he won 11 games and was named NFL Coach of the Year for the second time in four seasons. The Browns have lost four games by at least 16 points.
Getting blown out that many times is never a good thing.
But funny, the team seems more cohesive now that Deshaun Watson is out for the season with an Achilles’ tendon injury.
Watson has been a massive $230 million mistake, and his reputation is even worse, with more than two dozen massage therapists accusing him of sexual misconduct.
No matter what players say outwardly, just know that many talk differently in private to each other about Watson and aren’t impressed with his off-field behavior.
So perhaps the real decision is whether or not to go another direction at quarterback and part ways with Watson.
In that case, find your quarterback of the future and go with Jameis Winston as the bridge signal caller until the youngster is ready.
I look at those two 11-win seasons the Browns enjoyed under Stefanski and think about how Cleveland didn’t even have a single winning season from 2008-19.
You may recall they experienced the embarrassing winless season in 2017 while going 1-31 in two seasons under Hue Jackson.
At that pace, it would have taken Jackson 22 seasons to get 11 total wins.
Or how about that playoff victory over the Steelers under Stefanski in 2020? That marks the lone postseason win in 25 seasons since this version of the franchise began play in 1999.
Granted, things didn’t go well last January as the Browns were clobbered 45-14 by the Houston Texans in the AFC wild-card round.
Stefanski is 40-38 with the Browns, and his previous worst record for Cleveland is 7-10 in 2022.
The Browns would have to really rally to reach seven wins this season, but perhaps splitting their final six games and finishing 6-11 is doable.
The only real way to consider letting Stefanski go would be if the team totally collapses down the stretch and finishes 3-14 or 4-13.
Of course, owner Jimmy Haslam isn’t known for his patience, so perhaps this season is disappointing enough for him to make a move.
In that case, he needs to take stock of some of the coaches the Browns have had over the past 16 seasons.
Freddie Kitchens. The aforementioned Jackson. Mike Pettine. Rob Chudzinski. Pat Shurmur. Eric Mangini.
None of those guys had a single winning season.
Stefanski will never be the next Paul Brown, but he’s certainly a better coach than anyone on that list.
Those two 11-win seasons—for THIS franchise—should say it all.
Bring back Stefanski and give it one more go. If he underachieves in 2025, then show him the door.
But for next season, Stefanski is clearly the best man for the job on the shores of Lake Erie.
