For years, Kevin Stefanski tried to turn the Cleveland Browns into an aggressive team in fourth-down situations. That was often motivated by the fact that they were trailing in games, and it led to a painful lack of efficiency.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Browns attempted the second-most fourth-down conversions in the entire league from 2021-25 (187). Only Dan Campbell's uber-aggressive Detroit Lions did so at a higher rate (198).
Unfortunately, as Pro Football Focus' Bradley Locker explained, Stefanski's Browns did a terrible job in those situations. In fact, they had the seventh-worst conversion rate and averaged the fewest yards per play on fourth down (2.5), bottoming out in Stefanski's final season with the team:
"Considering their 25th-ranked success rate and league-worst yards-per-play figure on fourth down, the Browns and new head coach Todd Monken may want to be a tad more passive in 2026. Believe it or not, Cleveland averaged -1.6 yards per play on fourth down in 2025, the worst mark by anyone since the Colts in 2006."
Todd Monken faces the challenge of fixing one of Cleveland's biggest offensive flaws
Fortunately for the Browns, they now have a creative and dynamic offensive play-caller on the sidelines. Monken has led a variety of offenses, adapting the style to the personnel and not the other way around.
To be fair, the Browns also have a variety of weapons they didn't have over the last two years of the Stefanski era. Adding dynamic playmakers like KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston to the mix should work wonders here, especially with a head coach who can put the likes of Harold Fannin Jr., Quinshon Judkins, Dylan Sampson, and Isaiah Bond in a position to succeed.
Monken has his work cut out for him in Berea. He not only has to field a winning team, but also get rid of losing habits that tend to snowball and are hard to shake once ingrained in an organization. For too long, subpar execution and mental miscues didn't carry real consequences, and that won't be the case anymore.
Going for it just for the sake of going for it is pointless, and sometimes, analytics don't tell the whole picture. There's a gut feeling, and assessing the flow and momentum of the game should also factor in these types of decisions.
But if you decide to roll the dice, the least you can do is try to surprise the defense or, at the very least, run a play with a chance to reach the mark.
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