In his statement for the press release, Andrew Berry, Browns general manager, praised former head coach Kevin Stefanski for leading the team through tough times with a “young team and imperfect roster.”

However, Stefanski’s critics are upset with him for failing many quarterbacks in six years.

In a segment of First Take, sports commentator Stephen A Smith reacted to the Browns’ decision to fire Stefanski and demanded a reasonable explanation as to why he couldn’t stick to a single franchise quarterback.

“When you're 8-26 over the last two years, and you got 13 quarterbacks over the last six [years], and you can't seem to find anything offensively that works when offense is supposed to be your background? That's a problem,” he critiqued.

Stefanski’s Performance Left Smith Furious

Stefanski’s 14-year career began with the Minnesota Vikings. He became the offensive coordinator in the last year with the Vikings after spending two years before that as a quarterback coach.

He also opined that Stefanski’s reputation and the Browns’ ranking wouldn't have taken a hit if they had retained Baker Mayfield. He argued that the management made poor choices that left Stefanski with limited options.

Smith shared that he would accept the results if he was told that a two-time Coach of the Year was “forced to be mute and have no impact whatsoever.”

He further argued that Stefanski was slightly responsible for Deshaun Watson’s “fall from grace” on the field, as it happened on his watch.

But he immediately clarified that no one was more accountable for Watson than himself and called out the poor gamble ownership Dee and Jimmy Haslam made by signing Watson for $230 million.

“I’m talkin' about him literally falling off, I mean, a disaster. That was on your watch!” he claimed. 

However, Smith read out a list of all the quarterbacks that the Browns couldn’t settle on and asked, “Do I not look at you as a head coach and say, ‘did you find somebody?’ anybody?”

With the Browns, Stefanski’s head coaching career record is 45 wins and 56 losses in six years. Smith agreed that job opportunities aren’t going to run dry for Stefanski, given his illustrious initial success.

But the results he’s reaped are definitely questionable.

Written by

Akanksha Biradar

Edited by

Joyita Das