Cleveland Browns blame game: Baker Mayfield vs. Kevin Stefanski

The Cleveland Browns are on their bye week, but the question of who is to blame for their poor season falls on which shoulders the most?

We all need to blame someone. Right? Think about every decision you’ve made today? What are you blaming your actions or consequences on? Are you blaming yourself or someone else?

The Cleveland Browns football team is currently resting on their bye week but the rest of the world, and Browns fans, in particular, have to blame their mediocre teams’ woes, on something or someone?

So, who are you going with?

Cleveland Browns argument: Baker Mayfield or Kevin Stefanski?

To be very honest, this writer didn’t think, after Week 12 of the NFL season, we’d be debating this topic, but here we are. After a magical 2020 campaign, where every move made by the Browns was the right one, this new year has provided us more with the typical, “same old Browns” moves that we have all become accustomed to.

As a former coach myself, the blame for your teams’ failures should naturally fall on the shoulders of the coach. But this team and their fourth-year quarterback, Baker Mayfield, are making this answer more difficult to claim.

Mayfield has continued to struggle this year, and that’s only being amplified by the dozens of injuries he’s endured. The stubborn quarterback has continued to play with the heartfelt encouragement from his enabling coach, who seems to think that his quarterback is getting better, despite everyone seeing for themselves that Mayfield is looking more like a character out of a walking wounded military film.

Both characters in this current movie, Stefanski and Mayfield are the keys to how the plot of this Browns season gets wrapped up. It’s quite honestly a week-by-week rewrite on who to blame more. I wanted to give a pass to both coach and quarterback as this season has unfolded. Both came into the year on such a high from last season’s miraculous and surprising turnaround for a team that wasn’t supposed to be that good with a rookie coach.

Just as such a shock to the system that was, this season has been that too, and overwhelmingly disappointing.

These last five games, that wrap up this season to forget for Browns, will be an additional evaluation measure for these two very important members on a team that is struggling mightily. Who’s more at fault for this? Football is a team sport so I’ll again say that it’s the whole team’s fault. But if you had to pick one, are you going with Stefanski or Baker? Let’s first dive into the reasons Stefanski is most at fault.