Even Kevin Stefanski Proving No Match For The Browns Dysfunction Machine

The two-time Coach of the Year has become just like everyone else

(Photo - Getty)

“The wheels in the sky Berea keep on turning.”

- Journey

On Monday afternoon, Kevin Stefanski was late to his press conference. His usual debrief with the Cleveland media was officially pushed back a half hour, and when an hour after that elapsed with still no sign of the Browns head coach, speculation began. Maybe he’s finally telling Deshaun Watson he’s had enough. Maybe he’s meeting with Andrew Berry and Jimmy Haslam and forcefully telling them he’s starting Jameis Winston. Maybe he’s addressing the locker room about the quarterback change.

Those hopes quickly deflated. When Stefanski did arrive, nothing had changed. Better yet, not 24 hours removed from Watson failing to accumulate more than 200 yards through the air for the sixth straight game, he decided to lace his statement with language more potent.

“I think Deshaun gives us the best chance to win, continues to give us the best chance to win.”

Before the Browns traded for Watson in March of 2022, they’d briefly experienced the kind of relative stability that had eluded them since their auspicious return to the NFL in 1999. With Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry in place in 2020, the Browns went 11-5 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2003. They won a playoff game for the first time since 1994. They nearly made the AFC Championship. Even as the team’s relationship with quarterback Baker Mayfield deteriorated the following season, even as Stefanski was forced to start Jacoby Brissett for 11 games while waiting for Watson’s suspension to end in 2022, even as the Browns cycled through quarterbacks like a game of roulette in 2023, the train never fully flew off the tracks. Stefanski earned an extension for an offensive system that expertly hid his quarterbacks’ worst flaws, and earned the trust of his locker room in the process.