PITTSBURGH — The biggest challenge facing Kevin Stefanski and the Cleveland Browns no longer includes forging a path to the playoffs or scheming for the Kansas City Chiefs, next week’s opponent.
It isn’t even keeping guys motivated for the final four games of this miserable march through the graveyard. No, the most important task left for this season might simply be fighting off the apathy that appears to have cloaked this franchise once again.
The Browns just got planted by their division rival 27-14 and haven’t won a regular-season game in this stadium since 2003. They fell to 3-10 in an awful season that can’t end soon enough, and the overwhelming emotion I observed in the locker room was … an emoji shrug.
Out of 48 active players, I’m sure someone left upset — Dustin Hopkins and Kadarius Toney, please stand up. And punching lockers and throwing helmets isn’t always the solution.
But for a team that has fallen woefully short of expectations this season, for a team still drawing foolish personal fouls and leading the league in pre-snap penalties, I witnessed a locker room after the loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers full of players that seemed resigned to their fate. There wasn’t a whole lot of visible anger or frustration.
I don’t believe Stefanski should be fired. He’s been too good for this organization for too long. But this has easily been his worst season. The Browns entered Sunday with 48 pre-snap penalties and added five more in the loss to the Steelers. They’re well on their way to leading the league in pre-snap penalties for the second consecutive season. They’ve been in the top three in four of Stefanski’s five seasons in charge. That’s coaching.
Germain Ifedi’s foolish personal foul helped turn a third-and-1 from the Steelers’ 16 into a fourth-and-24 and out of field goal range.
Toney’s silly taunting penalty for no reason, followed by a muffed punt and turnover, should make this his last day on the roster.
“Very disappointing,” Stefanski said of the 15-yard penalties. “That’s not what we’re about. It’ll be addressed. It’s really, really, really disappointing.”
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It’s easy to blame Deshaun Watson for the mess the Browns are in, and he certainly was the accelerant to this blaze. But Watson hasn’t appeared in the last six games and the Browns are 2-4. For all of the passing yards Jameis Winston has provided, they’ve scored 14 points or less in three of those six games.
With four games left and the Browns officially eliminated from a playoff berth, why not try Dorian Thompson-Robinson at quarterback? What do the Browns have to lose? Four more games?
Throw Thompson-Robinson out there Sunday at home, let the Chiefs blitz him relentlessly and see how he responds. The Browns know what they have in Winston. He hasn’t changed. At his best, he can spin it for a lot of yards, he can provide some exciting plays and ultimately he’ll often break your heart with an ill-timed interception.
LIVE: Jameis Winston speaks to the media after the game https://t.co/Y4GWTcF1e4
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) December 8, 2024
Maybe DTR is the same. Maybe he can’t stay healthy long enough to find out. But in a lost season in the wilderness with a broken compass and no water in the canteen, why not try a rain dance?
There will not be a long line across the league to sign Winston this offseason. He will still be there if the Browns determine he is the best option as a bridge quarterback to the future — although given how much Stefanski loathes turnovers, I’m not sure they feel he is.
a familiar spot for @jerryjeudy#CLEvsPIT on CBS and NFL+ pic.twitter.com/cmSzFUvb2G
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) December 8, 2024
Winston is an old Porsche with no brakes and one functioning airbag. It’s going to be a fun ride, but at some point, there will be a crash and it’s probably going to hurt.
Stefanski said he did not consider going to DTR when the game was out of hand in the fourth quarter. The Browns have been high on him since they drafted him. Why not use the last month to take a look and see what’s there?
It’s December in Berea and apathy is setting in. A locker room beaten down for months seems resigned to its fate. The Browns are one more loss from assuring their worst winning percentage under Stefanski and heading toward their worst year since the winless season of 2017.
That season ended in a sarcastic parade. This season of squalor can’t end soon enough.
(Photo of Jameis Winston: Justin Berl / Getty Images)
