Kevin Stefanski sabotaged Shedeur Sanders at the worst possible moment

Cleveland Browns’ head coach Kevin Stefanski has received a lot of heat this season — some fair, and some unfair. After Cleveland’s 31-29 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, the head coach has only himself to blame for the heat that’s now being hurled his way. The reason why is a head-scratching decision he made on a possible game-tying two-point conversion attempt.

The Browns trailed by 14 in the fourth quarter, and rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders led the team on a comeback with back-to-back scoring drives. With a two-point conversion needed to force overtime, Cleveland took Sanders off the field and went with one of their wildcat plays. The play was a disaster, Cleveland lost the game by two points, and everyone was left asking why Stefanski would take Sanders out the game on such an important play, after the game he played.

Kevin Stefanski under fire for taking Shedeur Sanders off the field on game-deciding play

Sanders had a historic day on Sunday, completing 23-of-42 passes for 364 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception. He also added 29 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground, and put the team in position to force overtime. Still, Cleveland made the decision to take the ball out of his hands, and take him off the field enteirely, with the game on the line.

Stefanski was asked about that decision after the game, and he simply said that was one of the plays in their two-point package this week, and they just didn’t execute. The head coach expressed that the decision had nothing to do with what happened throughout the game, just that the offense knew they would likely call that play if they scored. The Browns did score, thanks to Sanders’ fourth touchdown, but they did not execute the predetermined two-point attempt.

In the end, Kevin Stefanski will have to answer for that. The Browns now have 10 losses on the season, and the head coach’s mistakes have been under a spotlight this year because of the extra attention Sanders has brought. With the sports world debating Stefanski’s and the organization’s development of Sanders, the head coach didn’t do himself any favors in the discussion by taking his rookie quarterback off the field after a historic day.