CLEVELAND, Ohio — Browns coach Kevin Stefanski benches starters and discipline stars. He chooses when to risk field position on fourth down, then he picks which play to call.
What I’m saying is, Stefanski makes tough decisions all the time. But naming Joe Flacco his starting quarterback isn’t one of them.
Actually, anointing Flacco might be the easiest play on Stefanski’s offseason call sheet. His fan base saw it coming, even before the Browns’ quarterback battle was busted by injuries, because Cleveland knows the harsh truth about NFL coaches.
They’re graded on wins, no matter how many losses we predict.
Here comes the hard part: Most sportsbooks set Cleveland’s 2025 betting line between four and six wins which, if accurate, would place Browns leadership in a precarious position.
Over the last two years, 10 NFL teams have lost 10 or more games in consecutive seasons. Nine of them have changed coaches.
If you think Stefanski deserves patience during a developmental season, I won’t disagree. But in the football world, you’re either 1-0 or in trouble. And trouble arrives quickly, even by impatient professional sports standards.
The NBA, by comparison, boasts a more forgiving culture. Only one of the league’s 10 worst teams fired its coach last season. Front offices can plan for down years — plural — in service to high draft picks.
And let’s be honest: Hoops fans can find something else to watch during a December blowout.
Basketball’s regular season is long, inconclusive, consumed casually. Some viewers watch more YouTube highlights than ESPN broadcasts from October through April. By last April, the Charlotte Hornets (19-63) weren’t drawing many eyeballs.
But no self-respecting sports fan misses Sunday kickoffs, and many watch every snap each week. When the local product is awful, leadership can’t hide, fans lose patience. Picks don’t appease, and people ask hard questions.
Questions like: Why trust a failing regime to fix its own mistakes?
Browns co-owner Jimmy Haslam has heard that one before. He’s fired a few of the regimes in question, too. But this time, he wants to act differently.
He told reporters last month that he likes Stefanski, along with general manager Andrew Berry, in their current roles. He mentioned a “two- or three- year period” when discussing the search for Cleveland’s next quarterback. And he scoffed when asked how many wins will constitute success next season.
“You really think we’re gonna answer that?” Haslam responded.
Then, in the next breath, he said, “Listen, we’ve got to do better than three, OK?”
Maybe Haslam won’t count wins as closely, but Stefanski’s job hasn’t changed. Neither has his rubric. If the Browns look good this fall, he’s safe. If they don’t, he’s in trouble. This is how the NFL operates.
Personally, I think Cleveland’s two-time Coach of the Year can survive another 10-loss season … if those losses look the right way. We’re talking competitive losses, losses that indicate talent is the issue, losses that require steady quarterback play to keep them close. Besides Flacco, I don’t know which passer can’t meet this standard.
Introducing his competitors:
- Kenny Pickett boasts a winning record (18-12) in 30 starts, though many of those wins came in spite of his offenses. Only four times has Pickett started a game where his team scored 25 or more points, and he averages just 206.3 passing yards per game during those starts. The former first-round pick is about to play for his third team during his fourth NFL season.
- Shedeur Sanders has thrown two career touchdowns in one career preseason game. Sanders has never taken a professional first-team rep, but his fans swear he’s ready to start. And they are ready to blame the coach if Sanders plays poorly.
- Dillon Gabriel completed 13 of 18 passes for 143 yards in Saturday’s preseason win over the Eagles, but he also threw a pick-six and was assigned a fumble after a handoff mix-up. The Browns like his maturity, but the rest of us worry about his size (5-foot-11, 200 pounds). And to that point, in the Super Bowl era (since 1966), only eight quarterbacks shorter than 6 feet tall have started 10 NFL games and finished with a .500 record or better.
By the way, all three of Flacco’s position mates suffered injuries during training camp. None of them has experience running Stefanski’s offense. Meanwhile, the Browns scored 28.6 points and threw for 312 yards per game during Flacco’s five starts in 2023.
Again, Stefanski makes plenty of tough calls during the week. Monday’s decision doesn’t count.
But wins and losses still do. Even with a 40-year-old starting quarterback, a three-win roster nucleus and an (allegedly) patient owner, the football world rarely forgives.
When the Bengals travel to Cleveland on Sept. 7, fun Flacco memories will be replaced by serious data points. Stefanski will either finish the day 1-0 or in trouble.
Then the choices become harder.
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