Based on all the insider chatter entering the final weekend of the 2025 regular season, Sunday’s game is expected to be Kevin Stefanski’s last as head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
Assuming it happens, the move will appease a fanbase eager for a change after back-to-back 12-loss seasons. It’s complicated, though, as Stefanski helped bring stability to Cleveland’s expansion franchise that suffered through a stretch of just two winning seasons in 21 years before this current regime was hired in 2020.
Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry inherited a strong roster, one that featured Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb, Jarvis Landry, Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward, and a stacked offensive line led by Joel Bitonio and Jack Conklin. The Browns won 11 games that year, reached the divisional round of the AFC playoffs, and Stefanski was named AP Coach of the Year.
But the scoreboard is the scoreboard, and even widely respected coaches like Stefanski land on the chopping block following a 7-26 stretch like the Browns and their fans are currently living through.
Owner Jimmy Haslam will reportedly make changes to the Browns’ structure, likely as soon as Black Monday, which comes as no surprise. Both Stefanski and Berry have skated on thin ice this season as the team struggled behind a revolving door at quarterback and a subpar roster at the skill positions, especially.
What makes zero sense, however, is that Stefanski is reportedly poised to be the scapegoat for a general manager who’s just as liable — if not more — for the current state of the team.
Moving on from Stefanski while Andrew Berry stays would send an ugly message about accountability
Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com is among those who believe the Stefanski era will end after Sunday’s finale at Cincinnati.
She was much more firm in her reporting on Berry, however, stating the GM has been heavily involved in the franchise’s decision on Stefanski’s future and “is safe” entering Black Monday.
“Berry delivered on Jimmy Haslam’s mandate in the offseason to knock this 2025 draft out of the park, and produced one of the best rookie classes in the history of the organization. … If anything, the Browns could add to his responsibilities and possibly title with chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta gone, but he’s expected to retain final say over personnel decisions.”
Let’s not get the Browns in trouble for something they haven’t done yet, but if Stefanski is made the scapegoat, and Berry gets a promotion? That would be a major slap in the face to a coach who’s done nothing but handle himself with class from Day 1.
Berry, of course, deserves credit for the production of this year’s draft class. He also made a savvy in-season trade for cornerback Tyson Campbell that looks like a value-add for future years.
But Berry has repeatedly found no answers at the QB position, especially since Deshaun Watson and his crippling contract arrived via the worst trade in modern NFL history back in March of 2022. That obviously wasn’t Berry’s decision alone, but the roster moves at QB have been puzzling ever since. In 2025, the Browns acquired Kenny Pickett and signed Joe Flacco, only to trade both players and roll with a pair of rookies drafted in the third and fifth rounds for about two-thirds of the year.
I truly wouldn’t understand the Browns moving on from Kevin Stefanski but not Andrew Berry. In six years, he’s never figured out quarterback, left tackle or wide receiver. That’s the biggest reason why they’ve gone 7-26 the last two years.
— Ben Axelrod (@BenAxelrod) January 3, 2026
The roster Stefanski’s been working with on offense has been especially brutal, with the team’s aging offensive line succumbing to injuries, and the Browns literally leaning on rookies as their leading passer, rusher and receiver. The wide receiver group of Jerry Jeudy, Cedric Tillman and Isaiah Bond has been the worst in football. The Browns also had to trade for washed-up veteran Cam Robinson to play left tackle, due to poor planning and depth issues.
He may have knocked this year’s draft out of the park, but the team isn’t entering 2026 with negative salary cap space, no legitimate offensive linemen under contract, and no No. 1 wide receiver because of Stefanski’s coaching alone. Berry’s roster building has played a major role in the team’s most recent nosedive, and if accurate, Cabot’s report paints an ugly picture for a franchise known for its dysfunction at the top.