Something seems weird between Browns’ QB Baker Mayfield and Kevin Stefanski

After watching  the Browns get humiliated against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football, one has to wonder what’s going on between quarterback Baker Mayfield and coach Kevin Stefanski.

Is it simply a case of both men regressing professionally? Maybe, but I wonder if it goes deeper. There’s got to be SOMETHING there to explain how the coach and quarterback went from league darlings, to league lepers in 12 months.

Stefanski looks like he’s forgotten how to call a game, leaving Mayfield in the pocket–sometimes in empty-sets, behind a battered offensive line. All the while, one of the NFL’s top running back just waits for someone to hand him the ball.

At the end of year four, Mayfield  is playing as poorly as ever. You can only blame the injuries so much. He’s out there. It’s a bottom-line league and he’s expected to win.

Mayfield wasn’t shy about questioning decisions that are only reflective of the Browns’ coaching staff, and its leader, Stefanski in his post-game conference.

As T.J. Watt harassed him for the entirety of the contest en route to collecting four of Pittsburgh’s nine sacks, the quarterback had the following to say about how Cleveland schemed against the probable defensive player of the year recipient.

"“When you got T.J. Watt over there and we’re not giving our rookie tackle a whole lot of help, that’s not going to be good,” Mayfield said, via TLOD.“This is the NFL. You have to be able to adapt mid-game and we didn’t do a good enough job, as you can tell.”"

And it what seems to be a recurring storyline, Stefanski bizarrely used Nick Chubb. His four first-half rushes were explained away as a rib injury. That said, Chubb played in the third quarter. He was also sitting at the beginning of the fourth. He usually rests at this time, but the times were desperate.

Browns Baker Mayfield being put in bad spot

With one game to go, the 10,000-foot view looks like Stefanski is putting his quarterback in a position to fail. After the Pittsburgh loss, Cleveland.com’s Hayden Grove drew on some words from Aaron Rodgers, after another coaching-quarterback disaster on Christmas Day.

"“Aaron Rodgers mentioned something and now I”ll say it: Looks almost like Stefanski was purposefully putting his QB in bad spots at time tonight. Maybe Baker will say something after the game. Maybe it will be after the season. If I was Baker I’d be p******,” Grove Tweeted."

Mayfield did have something to say after the game. There was that previous quote about the rookie tackle not getting enough help. But the former No. 1 pick also mentioned that it was time for him “to think about my health and best interests.”

That includes the possibility sitting out the season finale against Cincinnati in preparation for shoulder surgery.

Mayfield said he was going to talk to his family and his agent about the decision. Coach, and general manager for that matter, apparently won’t have any input.

It may not be Mayfield’s last game in a Browns uniform, because Cleveland can’t replace him until they’ve got somebody else. That said, it sure felt like we all saw the Baker Era explode, and not in a good way.