Kevin Stefanski should be on the hotseat after a 3-6 start for the Cleveland Browns

Kevin Stefanski is the only person at fault for the Cleveland Browns’ abysmal start.

The Cleveland Browns are quickly seeing their season fade away into obscurity. The Browns very clearly are not good on defense, we know this. Blame coaches all you want, but at the end of the day, the team is just not that talented, at least defensively. We are aware that this issue exists beyond just the coaching, this is a team that is poorly built defensively.

So if the defense is bad, the offense much adapt. Common sense, right? The offense as designed is a team eater. It’s designed to be efficient and sustainable. Drives of six, seven, and eight minutes are the norm for this team.

This works if you have a defense that can hold teams to under a certain set of points, it doesn’t work when you’re in a shootout. Considering the Browns have played nine games and a good portion have been high-scoring affairs, you’d think the team would know it needs up its pace and be more proactive in scoring faster.

Yet, that’s not what’s happening. Instead, the Browns’ offense is just as slow as ever. The Miami Dolphins proved this in spades on Sunday. They outpaced the Browns, had huge plays and put up a lot of points. The Dolphins finished with 39 points on the day and barely had the ball longer than the Browns. Clearly, one team was able to make the most of their drives, while the other wasn’t.

The Dolphins scored on seven of their drives, none of them went over 6:19 seconds, and some were under a minute long. When properly mapped out, the Browns can score that fast too, but it seems only on the first drive of the game.

After that, who knows?

The Browns had a fumble that took six minutes off the clock, a turnover on downs that took five minutes and 30 seconds off the clock, and a field goal that took four minutes and 39 seconds off the clock. But they at least had the good sense to go four-and-out and only waste 46 seconds.

The Browns’ offense has got to be more up-tempo and faster if they’re going to compete. It’s not that the current scheme is bad, it’s that the scheme doesn’t work when your defense holds a lead.

A good head coach would recognize that and try to change things, but then again, this is the same head coach that knew Baker Mayfield’s shoulder was destroyed and still paraded him out there, so maybe Stefanski isn’t the best at making decisions.

Kevin Stefanski’s job should be on the line this season

Now, hear the difference, I’m not saying Kevin Stefanski should be fired, but his job should be on the line. We’ve seen him coach very poorly over the last few years, and make decisions that have really harmed this team.

That failed fourth-down conversion in the first half, where they were within field goal range, probably wouldn’t have made a difference. That said, several times this year that exact situation occurred, and Stefanski passed on points for analytics. The Browns are 3-6, clearly, analytics isn’t working for him.

Those failed games, coupled with a scheme that isn’t adaptable on the fly, and the fact that he continues to misuse Nick Chubb are all factors that go into his possible termination. He’s relying on an offense that, statistically, looks very good but in practice is often times lacking.

Even though Jacoby Brissett has shown the ability to loft some balls out for a deep pass, it’s still not something the Browns can do regularly. Especially with the receiving corp showing up only so often.

There have been no attempts to change the offense to make it more amendable to the Browns’ current situation, and while no one is suggesting they throw out the entire playbook, focusing on plays that generate big yards, and don’t eat up the clock has to be a priority going forward.

If the tempo of the game doesn’t change, if the Browns continue to run these six-seven minute long drives that end in a turnover on downs or something to that effect, this team won’t win.

And if Stefanski won’t fix that issue, then he should absolutely be a candidate to be fired.