He’s been ridiculed and made fun of for his play calling and even the play call sheet. Some Cleveland Browns fans have even referred to their team’s coach Kevin Stefanski’s play calling sheet as a “Denny’s Menu.” Most NFL coaches use such a play call sheet but for Cleveland fans it’s been an easy thing to target Stefanski at, especially when the team was struggling these last couple of seasons.
Stefanski’s tenure in Northeastern Ohio as the Browns head coach started very brightly in 2020 when his team shot out of the gate strong and finished with an 11-5 record. They beat the Pittsburgh Steelers to get into the playoffs and then beat them again the following week in the first round of the playoffs. All seemed well and fans couldn’t wait till the following season when Cleveland would be going to the Super Bowl.
Well, that didn’t happen. Instead, the team fumbled the 2021 season away and finished with an 8-9 record. The 2022 season wasn’t any better as the team struggled to finish at 7-10.
There have been many reasons for this fall from grace for the coach and his teams over the last two seasons. Too many to go into a lot of detail but the 2021 season was one where his quarterback (Baker Mayfield) suffered a shoulder injury and tried playing through it. The 2022 season was the Deshaun Watson suspension year.
That brings us back to the current campaign where Stefanski has his team playing exceptional football and a record of 9-5. With the nine wins Stefanski entered a rare space that most previous Browns coaches have never been to. He’s only the second coach to have secured a winning record in a second season during his tenure. The last Browns coach to do that was Marty Schottenheimer who had three straight seasons (1986, 1987,1988) of winning records.
If you’re doing the math, that’s over 35 years ago that this feat has been accomplished.
There have been 14 other Browns head coaches in that time, from Bud Carson, Bill Belichick, Mike Pettine, Romeo Crennel to Butch Davis that have failed to do what Stefanski is doing now.
There are a lot of knee jerk Browns fans that want Stefanski fired after any play that goes south, but Stefanski is doing a good job as the team’s head coach as he winds down his fourth season.
Cleveland is moving in the right direction after multiple decades of mediocrity and thanks to Stefanski, his coaching staff and players this team is relevant again and that should be praised by all!
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