Led By Coach Kevin Stefanski, The Cleveland Browns’ Playoff Drought Appears To Be Over

Non-Clevelanders might have trouble grasping the full significance of the Cleveland Browns’ current record, which is 9-3. Maybe this will help: The Browns’ combined record after 12 games in the 2016 and 2017 seasons was 0-24. You want to throw in 2015? Fine. That “improves” the record to 2-34.

Prior to this year, in the 21 years since the Browns re-entered the NFL in 1999, they had a winning record after 12 games only twice. They were 7-5 in 2014 and 7-5 in 2007. Those were two glaring aberrations.

For virtually all of this century, the Browns’ record after 12 games has been the very definition of a franchise lost in the woods. In addition to those two 0-12 seasons, they had one 1-11, two 2-10’s, two 3-9’s, seven 4-8’s and two 5-7’s. In a six-year stretch from 2003 to 2008 the Browns after 12 games were 4-8 four times and 3-9 once.

Put another way: prior to hiring Kevin Stefanski as head coach, in the 21 years since 1999, the Browns’ winning percentage at the 12-game mark was .315 (79-172).

Since hiring Stefanski, their winning percentage after 12 games is .750 (9-3).

That includes the signature win Cleveland needed and got on Sunday, a 41-35 win at Tennessee in a game the Browns led 38-7 at halftime. It was only the second win over a team with a winning record by the Browns this year. But it was a win that casts the Browns, and their rookie head coach in a much more flattering light.

With four games left against (in order) the Ravens, Giants, Jets and Steelers, the Browns have a chance to win 11 games for the first time in over a quarter of a century (since 1994), and for only the second time in 35 years, since 1986, when their coach was Marty Schottenheimer.

Much of the credit for Cleveland’s emergence goes to Stefanski, who with no prior experience as an NFL head coach has had to navigate himself and his team through the most challenging season in NFL history.

Asked what was the difference between last year and this year, Browns center J.C. Tretter said, “Kevin coming in and shaping us the way he wants us to play and compete. The culture of a team starts with the head coach, and it’s up to the players to live up to it. So it starts with Kevin, and who he is as a person and a leader.”

After years of failure, Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam appear to have finally gotten this coaching thing right. Stefanski is the seventh Browns head coach in the nine years since the Haslams became owners. Stefanski appeared to be the front-runner for the job in 2019, but then-general manager John Dorsey chose Freddie Kitchens instead.

Dorsey and Kitchens were both fired after a 6-10 season last year, and this time the Haslams didn’t whiff. They hired the 38-year-old Stefanski, who spent the previous 14 years on the Minnesota Vikings’ coaching staff, where he was the offensive coordinator in 2019.

Overcoming the obstacles of a limited training camp and no preseason games due to the pandemic, Stefanski has brought much-needed discipline, accountability, leadership, and a total cultural re-boot to a franchise that needed all of that.

After a shaky outing in his first game as coach, an ugly 38-6 loss at Baltimore, Stefanski has led the Browns to a 9-2 record, and has Cleveland on the brink of a trip to the playoffs for the first time since 2002.

Equally important is the progress quarterback Baker Mayfield has shown under Stefanski. Last year Mayfield threw 21 interceptions, the second highest total in the NFL. This year he’s thrown just seven, none in his last five games. Last year he was 21^st in the league with a quarterback rating of 51.2. This year he’s 13^th with a rating of 70.5.

In the win over Tennessee on Sunday Mayfield’s rating was 147, as he became the first Browns quarterback to throw four touchdown passes in the first half since Hall of Famer Otto Graham did it in 1951.

For the game, Mayfield completed 25 of 33 passes for 334 yards, four touchdowns and no sacks. Mayfield attributes his improvement to conversations he had with Stefanski during the bye week in early November.

“Baker’s very hard on himself, very critical of himself. We try to coach him up on things he needs to work on and double down on what he’s good at,” Stefanski said.

“Baker has been a leader since the day he was drafted,” Tretter said. “He has a magnetic personality. Guys want to be around him and follow him.”

Meanwhile, Cleveland fans are delirious over the possibility of the Browns’ long-awaited return to the playoffs.

“They are a big part of this,” Stefanski said. “I love seeing the (Browns) flags on everyone’s lawn. The excitement is there, and we’ve got to continue to give them something to be excited about.”