Kevin Stefanski’s Tenure as Head Coach- A Requiem  

With the NFL regular season over, Black Monday dawned in typically uneasy fashion. When the dust settled, six head coaches were out, including the Cleveland Browns’ top dawg, Kevin Stefanski.

It is fair to call this move unsurprising. The team struggled mightily and ended the 2024 season with a 3-14 record. In the 2025 season, however, the team showed minute improvement, going 5-12 on the year. However, by late October, NFL announcers, analysts, and fans began calling for Stefanski’s head on a platter.

Poor offense, questionable play calling, inexplicable losses, and a dizzying quarterback carousel intensified a terrible situation. Yet nothing in life -or football- happens in a vacuum. When a former two-time NFL Coach of the Year is unceremoniously sacked, it demands a deeper investigation. There’s more to this than poor coaching.

The Browns did not let Stefanski go due to his lack of coaching ability, but because the team could find no other way out of the impossible situation created when the ownership made an ill-advised, high-risk investment in Deshaun Watson that failed.

To be fair, Watson was more of a symptom of a greater problem than the direct cause of his head coach’s downfall. The team Stefanski took on in 2020 had been through dark days. From 2016-mid 2018, the team had three wins and one tie. The 2019 season was marginally better with six wins. Stefanski’s 2020 team had 11 regular season wins. And a victory in the Wildcard round of the playoffs. While the eight win-2021 season was disappointing in comparison, nothing would match the whiplash from 2022-2025.

The quarterbacks behind the win totals.

2020 — 11 wins

QB: Baker Mayfield

2021 — 8 wins

QB: Baker Mayfield

2022 — 7 wins

QBs: Jacoby Brissett / Deshaun Watson

2023 — 11 wins

QBs: Deshaun Watson / P.J. Walker / Dorian Thompson‑Robinson / Joe Flacco/ Jeff Driskel

2024 — 3 wins

QBs: Deshaun Watson / Jameis Winston / Dorian Thompson‑Robinson

2025 — 5 wins

QBs: Joe Flacco/ Dillion Gabriel/ Shedeur Sanders

Obviously, wins and losses transcend quarterback play. But the decision to proverbially put all the eggs in a deeply flawed, aging basket made it almost impossible to fill other necessary positions (like wide receiver). Coughing up three first-round draft picks (2022, 2023, 2024) in addition to giving a record-setting, fully guaranteed $230 million to Watson all but ensured future failure if the golden goose-turned albatross underperformed or became injured. Both scenarios happened, Then the front office think tank decided that filling the quarterback room with unproven players and Joe Flacco was the answer.

All of this chaos tends to go unnoticed by those who are not a part of the inner circle. Fans see losses. NFL analysts look at a highly ranked defense co-existing with an offense that can barely put 20 points on the score board. Announcers marvel when a former pro bowler actually hangs on to a pass. And everyone points at the coach.

Arguably, everyone should look at the coach. By 2025, Stefanski called some terrible games, made some awful decisions, and consoled fans with the weekly refrain of “we just need to do better.” He wisely handed over play calling responsibilities to Offensive Coordinator, Tommy Rees. And coached a class of rookies to inspiring performances. The Browns are the second team in the modern NFL era to have rookies lead the team in passing, rushing, and receiving yards. The last team to accomplish this was the 1968 Buffalo Bills.

Parting ways with Kevin Stefanski likely was inevitable. However, the Browns organization carries a significant portion of blame for his failures.