Former Vikings coach’s denial of his team’s QB situation leads to his firing

Since leaving the Minnesota Vikings to become head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 2020, Kevin Stefanski has won the NFL’s Coach of the Year award in two of the past three seasons. But this year, Stefanski may actually be closer to being fired than receiving another coaching award.

On Sunday, the Browns’ record fell to 1-4 this season after suffering a 34-13 loss to the Washington Commanders. Some believe Cleveland will need to bench quarterback Deshaun Watson to turn things around, and Stefanski shared his thoughts on the matter after the loss to the Commanders.

“Yeah, we don’t change quarterbacks. We have to play better. I need to train better and that’s really it.”

Last season, Stefanski helped lead Cleveland to an 11-6 record and a playoff berth, despite the team having to use five different quarterbacks during the year. This season, Watson has been the only starting signal-caller for the Browns, and the team has earned one win in its first five games.

In Watson’s five starts this season, he has completed 60.2 percent of his passes, averaged 170.4 passing yards per matchup and 4.8 yards per throw, thrown five touchdowns and three interceptions and posted a passer rating of 74.8.

Cleveland’s top quarterback currently has a passer rating that is worse than players in the league like Skylar Thompson, Daniel Jones and Gardner Minshew. Watson is one of the highest-paid signal-callers in the NFL, but he’s playing like a career backup this season.

If Stefanski doesn’t want to bench him now, what will it take? If he thinks Watson will somehow get better in the next few weeks, that would be incredibly stupid.

Watson has been one of the league’s worst quarterbacks since joining the Browns in 2021, and there’s no reason to believe that will change any time soon.

Stefanski may think his job is secure in Cleveland after winning two Coach of the Year awards in the past two seasons, but he is also part of a franchise that has had seven different head coaches since Jimmy Haslam became its owner in 2012. No Browns head coach should ever be happy about their job security as long as Haslam is the team’s owner.

So is Stefanski prepared to lose his job if Watson isn’t able to turn things around sooner rather than later? Because if not, the former Minnesota assistant coach will likely be in for a rude awakening if he continues to work with one of the NFL’s worst quarterbacks as Cleveland’s starter.

More Vikings news and analysis