Sunday will mark the end of another brutal Cleveland Browns season, and everybody’s wondering if it will also mark the end of Kevin Stefanski’s six-year run as head coach.
You could certainly make the case that Stefanski deserves one more year. It’s hard to win in the NFL when you riffle through three different starting quarterbacks, and have Day 2 rookies as your leading rusher and receiver. Stefanski is also widely respected across the league after winning two AP Coach of the Year awards, and leading Cleveland to a pair of 11-win seasons and playoff berths.
But coaches rarely survive a stretch like the Browns are currently living through, with just seven wins in their last 33 games. Cleveland’s currently wasting a defense that enters Week 18 ranked fourth in the NFL in total EPA per play. Stefanski’s offense? It ranks dead-last, per SumerSports, and some questionable in-game decisions have only made a bad situation worse over the second half of the season.
Browns fans are definitely ready for a change, and it’s starting to feel like the players — and even Stefanski himself? — are, too.
Myles Garrett on his experience playing under Kevin Stefanski:
— Daniel Oyefusi (@DanielOyefusi) January 2, 2026
"Like anything, we've had ups and downs. Unfortunately more downs than ups. I would have loved to make a little more noise in some different years, especially this year, with how well we've been playing on defense.…
That change is beginning to feel inevitable, and NFL insider Adam Schefter only stoked the flames Friday on his latest appearance on the Pat McAfee Show.
ESPN report signals the end of Kevin Stefanski’s run in Cleveland
Entering the final week of the regular season, we know at least two teams will be searching for new head coaches — the New York Giants and the Tennessee Titans.
Schefter delivered a bit of a bombshell Friday when he told McAfee that he anticipates “probably four-to-five more” head coach openings after Black Monday, while specifically mentioning both the Cleveland Browns and Las Vegas Raiders.
“This year I might go the under, except when we get into these situations, sometimes there’s always one that surprises you that nobody was forecasting or expecting. Obviously, there’s been a lot of conversation about Las Vegas. There’s been a lot of conversation about Cleveland. I don’t think it would be a surprise if either of those two places, if we saw some type of change. That would bring the total to four.”
Schefter’s update came on the heels of an earlier report by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, who linked Stefanski to the Giants’ opening if he were to become available next week.
It’s probably best at this point for both parties to respectfully part ways, and that definitely feels like the most likely outcome entering Sunday’s season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Stefanski’s tenure certainly won’t be the worst in Browns history, but after going 37-30 overall with two playoff appearances over his first four seasons, he could definitely end up leaving with a brutal feeling of what could’ve been.