Kevin Stefanski guiding Cleveland Browns to thick of AFC playoff race

BEREA, Ohio — Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski rarely shows emotion on the sideline.

But on the game-defining play of Sunday’s 31-27 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cleveland’s otherwise stoic coach couldn’t contain himself.

On a key fourth-and-3 play early in the fourth quarter, Browns quarterback Joe Flacco evaded the Jaguars’ rush, then found second-year wide receiver David Bell wide open down the middle.

As Bell turned around and raced untouched for a 41-yard touchdown — the first of his career — Stefanski skipped down the sidelines, hollering along with the players.

“That play in particular was a big moment for our football team in that game,” Stefanski said Wednesday. “And to see the play that (Flacco) made drifting away from pressure and then to see D-Bell obviously go in. … I feed off the emotion of our players — and that was an emotional play for our football team.

A football team that continues to reel off wins despite continually losing players.

The Browns already have become the first NFL team since the 2015 Houston Texans to start four different quarterbacks in a season.

Cleveland has also lost several key performers to season-ending injuries, including All-Pro running back Nick Chubb (knee), quarterback Deshaun Watson (shoulder), starting offensive tackles Jedrick Wills Jr. (knee) and Jack Conklin (knee), and their backup Dawand Jones (knee), and most recently, safety Grant Delpit (groin) and defensive end Ogbo Okoronkwo (groin), who both suffered their injuries in the win over Jacksonville.

Despite the injury adversity and quarterback musical chairs, Stefanski somehow has the Browns at 8-5 and as the 5-seed in the AFC playoff race.

“He’s coaching his ass off,” said Browns All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett.

Stefanski entered the 2023 season on what appeared to be one of the hottest coaching seats in the league after two straight losing seasons.

During his first year with the Browns in 2020, Stefanski guided Cleveland to its first playoff appearance in 18 years on the way to winning NFL Coach of the Year.

But the past two seasons, the Browns failed to make the playoffs while struggling through quarterback turmoil — first with Baker Mayfield in 2021, then with Watson, who missed the first 11 games while serving a suspension for violating the NFL’s personal-conduct policy last year.

The way the Browns have bounced back this season, Stefanski no longer appears to be on the hot seat.

In fact, heading into the final month of the season, he might be a candidate to win NFL Coach of the Year again. And he could be on his way to a contract extension in the offseason.

“He does a great job and I think he deserves a lot of credit, obviously, with the amount of variables that he’s been dealing with this year,” Flacco said. “He’s the first guy you’re going to have to look at when you talk about that kind of stuff.”

No NFL coach has had to deal with more variables at quarterback than Stefanski.

With Watson battling two different injuries to his right throwing shoulder, quarterbacks PJ Walker and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson both had to play virtually three full games apiece. Cleveland still went 3-3 in those games to keep their playoff hopes afloat. That included a stunning 19-17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers in Week 6 and a dramatic 39-38 comeback victory over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 7 with Walker behind center, later followed by a 13-10 win over the rival Pittsburgh Steelers, in which Thompson-Robinson engineered the game-winning field goal drive.

Stefanski doubles as the offensive playcaller. With him calling the plays, the Browns didn’t light up the scoreboard in any of those victories. But they did manufacture just enough offense to win.

“He has three superpowers,” general manager Andrew Berry says of Stefanski. “His intelligence, his creativity and his emotional control.”

Stefanski’s demeanor has helped Cleveland weather the injury storm and circumvent any locker room panic. His instant rapport with Flacco, 38, could end up propelling the Browns all the way to the postseason.

Cleveland signed Flacco on Nov. 20 after Watson was set to undergo season-ending surgery on his shoulder. On Dec. 3, Flacco made his season debut and threw for three touchdowns, though the Los Angeles Rams pulled away late to win.

With the performance against Jacksonville, Flacco became one of only five quarterbacks in NFL history (since the 1970 merger) to throw five touchdowns over his first two games with a new team. And the Browns became just the eighth team since at least 1950 to have four different quarterbacks win a game in one season.

“The more he gets a feel for what we’re good at while I’m back there and the more we can talk in the meeting rooms, obviously, the more I play, the more conversations. … the better feel [we’ll have] for each other that way,” said Flacco, who’s only three years younger than Stefanski.

Since returning to the NFL in 1999, the Browns have cycled through a dozen head coaches. Since owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam bought the team in 2012, no coach had lasted more than three seasons. Until Stefanski, who is on his way to breaking that ignominious pattern while giving the Browns the winning coach they’ve long sought.

“With everything that’s changed throughout the year, pieces moving in and out, switched around, he’s done a hell of a job,” Garrett said, “and we’ve answered the call.”