Another Year, Another ‘Wait ‘till Next Year’ For The Cleveland Browns

Cleveland Browns officials this week began picking up the pieces from another shattered season. It’s an exercise that has become an annual ritual in Cleveland. Only the names change.

The coaches, the staff, and the front office personnel comes and goes, but the results remain numbingly the same. One of four NFL teams to have never appeared in a Super Bowl, the Browns once again will watch this year’s game on TV.

In recent years, what was, many years ago, a once proud franchise has actually been regressing, rather than progressing towards their seemingly unattainable goal.

From 11 wins in 2020 to eight wins in 2021 to seven wins and a last-place finish in the AFC North this year, there’s a lot of debris to be disposed of. The Browns got an early start on their housecleaning this year when they sent disgruntled defensive end Jadeveon Clowney home last Friday, which meant Clowney avoided what for too many years has almost become a Browns’ tradition: a season-ending loss the to the Steelers in Pittsburgh. This year’s loss: 28-14.

In some of those years that season-ending loss was quickly followed by the firing of still another Browns head coach. That didn’t happen this year to Kevin Stefanski, NFL Coach of the Year as a rookie in 2020, when he guided the Browns to a record of 11-5 and their first trip to the playoffs in 18 years.

Stefanski, whose teams in the last two years have a combined record of 15-19, was given a vote of confidence by Browns executive vice president of football operations and general manager Andrew Berry.

“I think we have a really strong head coach,” Berry said. “He proved it in his very first year. He’s smart, he’s good with our guys, he’s creative, he relates to our players, and his ability as a teacher. We know we have a good one in Kevin.”

So far, the only casualty from the Browns’ failed 2022 season was defensive coordinator Joe Woods, who was relieved of his duties on Monday.

“We all share in this. We don’t hide from it. We need to find ways to make it better,” said Stefanski of his team’s 7-10 season, Cleveland’s 14^th double-digit loss season in the last 20 years. “But I’m in no way discouraged about the future of this football team.”

One of ongoing themes, and criticisms about the Browns this year was a lack of leadership.

“We didn’t necessarily have the right mix in some areas,” said Berry, who said for him it’s the effectiveness rather than the style of leadership that matters most.

Despite another losing season, the Browns were at least able to begin the transition to new quarterback Deshaun Watson, who in the final six games, after serving his 11-game suspension, flashed both good and bad, which was not unexpected, given that he was playing in NFL games for the first time in nearly two seasons.

The Browns were 3-3 in Watson’s six starts, during which he completed 58% of his passes for 1,102 yards, with seven touchdowns and five interceptions.

“There were some moments with Deshaun in there that were high level football,” said Stefanski.

“We saw a lot of good moments from Deshaun, and we feel very strong about his pairing with Kevin,” Berry said. “He had his ups and downs in the six games, as expected, but you saw his ability to make dynamic plays with his arm and his legs. You also saw some of the layoff. But we feel good about the progress he made. We’re very excited about him moving into 2023.”

The Browns are also very excited about moving away from 2022.

“We didn’t get it done this year because we were too inconsistent,” Berry said.

The Browns are counting on a big step forward in 2023. A full offseason, full training camp, and full regular season for Watson should help translate to a significant improvement in the team’s record, assuming the defense likewise improves.

The Browns are currently identifying candidates to fill the vacancy at defensive coordinator. In particular, the interior defensive line needs a lot of work, as does the overall defensive coordination. Too many times in 2022 the Browns’ pass defense was shredded by opponents taking advantage of blown coverages by Browns defenders.

The Browns’ culture, or lack of it, was an additional recurring theme in 2022.

“Every team that loses, you’re going to ask about culture,” Stefanski said. “Culture is people. When you’re winning, that’s when culture starts to build. When you’re going through tough times it becomes difficult in some areas.”