4 Cleveland Browns whose stocks are down in Packers Christmas letdown

2. Cleveland Browns coach Kevin Stefanski

Coach and quarterback. You have both, you probably have a winner. The Browns were a playoff team with Mayfield balling out in 2020, while Stefanski was en route to coach of the year.

But with a struggling quarterback, Kevin Stefanski continues to put his field general into positions he shouldn’t be in.

Nick Chubb is the Browns best player, but the Stefanski forgets about him, seemingly every week. It was clear, early on, that Chubb could have a big day. Trailing 7-6, Chubb went off for a 27-yard run. After a nice end-around from Anthony Schwartz, the Browns blew up from Green Bay’s 15.

Mayfield got sacked, threw an incompletion and then got picked throwing high for Jarvis Landry, who was so wide open, he could’ve smoked a pipe and set up a recliner.

It wasn’t until the Browns trailed 24-12 in the third quarter where Stefanski had his “A-ha” moment concern his running back.

Too little, too late, though.

It won’t happen this year, but I wonder if Stefanski hands over play calling to Alex Van Pelt next season. He’s got to be the coach of the entire team. Play calling is important, but there’s more facets of the game he must pay attention to.

Chubb ended the game with just 17 carries. That’s egregious, considering he had 126 yards (7.4 yards per carry average). What would we have done with 25 carries?

With the interception to Landry, inactive safety John Johnson III tweeted, “Run the **** ball.” Makes you wonder how much the defense respects its head coach.