3 bad things from the Browns win against the Bengals

Complicated their offseason

The Cleveland Browns have quite honestly complicated their offseason. No one should be advocating for the firing of Kevin Stefanski. Watching the Dolphins fire Brian Flores should be all the reminder one needs that finding a coach who can win year after year is not easy. Before Flores’ arrival, the team had just three winning seasons since 2002. After he arrived, he had two in back-to-back seasons. The Detroit Lions are another example of a team that can’t find good head coaches, firing the most successful one they’ve had in decades.

It’s not easy to find a coach who can win more than eight games. So firing Stefanski is not an option. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t some shakeup needed. The team should pursue either a new offensive philosophy that the coaches can implement or a new offensive coordinator to push for play-calling duties. We saw that Stefanski is very inconsistent with his play selection and game plans. Too often he ignores the reality for analytics.

Green Bay was the fourth-worst team in the league in yards per rush against at 4.7. The Browns were tied for the league lead with 5.1 yards per rush. Why wouldn’t you run the ball until they could stop you? Baker Mayfield’s shoulder was busted, this wasn’t a game he needed, so if you know the Packers can’t stop the run, don’t stop running. Stefanski needs someone to call plays for him and I have concerns about Alex Van Pelt being that guy.

Case Keenum also isn’t the quarterback this team needs. The Broncos offense was among the worst in the league and the Bengals were missing about 20-odd players in the rematch, so to say that Case Keenum played against “top talent” would be a misnomer. He didn’t test either defense deep and against teams like the Chargers and Buccaneers, you’re going to have to.

If you don’t think Baker Mayfield is the guy, that’s fine, but you can’t argue that Case Keenum is. He’s shown everywhere he’s gone that the best he can give you is a solid performance where he only ever throws underneath stuff to guys out of the backfield or in the flats.

Moreover, D’Ernest Johnson should be re-signed, and if that means Kareem Hunt has to go to make room, oh well. The Browns showcased Johnson too many times to avoid how good he is. Hunt has never shown to be the pass-catcher many hoped he’d be, as even Chubb has shown far more pop out of the back-field. So Hunt isn’t untouchable. He doesn’t give the Browns something no one else can do.

In fact, Demetric Felton was far more useful out of the backfield than Hunt was.

While a lot of people want to see Hunt as a top-tier running back (he isn’t) and that he’s on par with Chubb with regards to talent level (he isn’t), the fact is that Hunt is replaceable and these last few games with D’Ernest Johnson has proven that.

So do you let go of Hunt to keep Johnson? Do you get a new offensive play-caller so you can have a more consistent offense? What happens if Stefanski refuses to do anything with regards to retooling the offense? The Browns shouldn’t go full tear down and rebuild, but they need to make some changes, as this last game against the Bengals proved that there are some fundamental issues.