Shock and awesome: Browns stun Steelers, get ready for K.C. – The Nail in the Coffin, Episode 189
January 15, 2021Josh and Joe preview the Browns-Chiefs playoff game
January 16, 2021“If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming impossibilities. The thing is to get the work done.” – Dale Carnegie
M id-January in Berea is typically a time where fans of the Cleveland Browns are introduced to their newest leaders. The general managers who will lead the organization through the next draft and free agency period. The next head coach who is touted as a “leader of men”—whatever that means—to help get the woebegone football team back on track. Every so often, fans are even introduced to a man who didn’t even interview for the job for which he was hired.
Mid-January in Berea is typically touted as time for new beginnings and reset buttons and, in many cases, the cleaning out of lockers. Its rumors and interviews, dogs and ponies, and perennially one of Korn Ferry’s more profitable periods. From barstools to barbershops, countless debates rage. Should the Browns hire a retread with NFL head coaching experience? Should they be looking at the hot commodities in the collegiate ranks? Should they try and find the next head coaching success who simply hasn’t had a chance to do so just yet? And don’t forget the ever-popular battle between “football guy” and “analytics” with bonus points being awarded for ties to Northeastern Ohio.
One year ago this very week, after what team owner Jimmy Haslam referred to as a “methodical process,” the city of Cleveland was introduced to Kevin Stefanski who was hired to be the head coach of the Browns. The head coach position for an NFL franchise is annually considered to be the top of the mountain for aspiring football minds. Fans are oftentimes reminded that there are, in fact, only 32 of these jobs in existence. Yet here was Stefanski, standing behind a podium in Berea, Ohio, the fourth man to have said job in what equated to a 15-month window.
With the Browns, its always more nuanced when it comes to, well, everything. Take Mike Holmgren, for example. Holmgren, who was successful as a head coach, was hired in 2010 to be the team’s President—a role which he had never held, only to fail miserably and later admit that, yes, he probably should have just been the team’s coach.
Two years prior to Stefanski’s hiring, HBO aired an episode of “Hard Knocks” where the coaching room, then led by Hue Jackson, could not have appeared as a modern-day performance of Lord of the Flies. Then defensive coordinator Gregg Williams couldn’t be bothered to look in the direction of anyone who was speaking. Todd Haley taking off his hat and putting his arms in a surrender cobra while staring dead straight ahead while Jackson waxes methodically about his chair was a metaphor for the ages. And this was preseason.
Culture, by definition, is achieved collectively. Strong, positive cultures are a function of the collective living out the same virtues and values. Conversely, cultures where, say, an “array of porn” is streamed onto the walls of a training facility, is the result of the collective chaotically traversing in directions of their individual choosing. For years, it felt as if every Sunday morning prior to kickoff, fans in Cleveland were treated to a report of Berea being nothing more than a collection of human ladders, folks plotting to best position themselves in what was a sea of turmoil. A complete lack of trust coupled with questionable-at-best communication had plagued the team since Haslam purchased the franchise in 2012. Stefanski’s hiring, however, was the first in the previous eight years where the search was not led entirely by the team’s owner.
In his opening remarks, one of Stefanski’s first “thank you” was to Paul DePodesta, the mysterious behind-the-scenes numbers guru whom Browns fans still, to this day, can’t quite articulate what exactly he does here. But in doing so, the new head coach stated his desire to collectively lead the organization.
“For us to build a winning culture, it’s going to take each and every member of the Browns staff,” Stefanski said. He would go on to discuss how every role in the organization contributes to winning football games. He spoke of authenticity. He spoke of accountability. He spoke of his mentors and those who shaped him into the person he is today. He quoted Harry Truman, saying “it’s amazing what you can accomplish when no one cares who gets the credit.”
Stefanski would not make the same mistake as others before him in promising things that would never come to fruition. He wouldn’t commit to a win total or a postseason run. He committed to working. He committed to building a foundation. And he committed to reinforcing that foundation.
Three hundred and sixty-one days after Stefanski was introduced, the Cleveland Browns won their first playoff game since 1994, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers, 48-37. Stefanski was not able to be on the sideline, yet his fingerprints coated every aspect of the game.
W hen the news of Stefanski’s COVID-19 related absence hit the wire, the reaction from fans was understandably palpable. Injuries and illness had plagued the team since their mid-season bye. Two weeks prior, the team was forced to play a game without any of their starting receiving corps, taking the field with a host of athletes who learned the Browns’ playbook in the parking garage earlier that day. Week 17 found them in a win-or-go-home situation in Pittsburgh, doing so without any of their starting defensive backs.
The man who just a year prior said success was fueled by people, found himself unable to engage with anyone. A positive COVID-19 test earlier in the week prevented Stefanski from making the trip to Pittsburgh, the head coach instead forced to watch the game from his basement to isolate himself from his family. NFL rules prohibited the head coach having any in-game interaction with any of his players or coaches. He was instead forced to hand the reins to his assistants, Mike Priefer, Alex Van Pelt, and Joe Wood.
What took place last Sunday was nothing short of remarkable. Ask the Detroit Lions how much coaching matters. Cleveland would not have Pro Bowler Joel Bitonio suiting up at guard. They would not have Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward locking down the outside. They would lose Pro Bowl tackle Jack Conklin to a hamstring injury midway through the contest. They would not be able to practice in person due to league COVID protocols. Aand the man who led the Browns to an 11-win season and their first playoff appearance in 18 years was not going to be able to steer the ship. Over the course of the week, Las Vegas had moved the Browns from slight underdogs to ones expected to lose by a touchdown, and many assumed even that was being generous.
For years, Browns fans have watched other franchises execute the “next man up” mentality while even the slightest of headwinds would cause this team to veer off track. Yet here were the Cleveland Browns—the Cleveland Browns—laying it to the AFC North-winning Pittsburgh Steelers in their stadium thanks to game-tilting plays by guys like MJ Stewart, Porter Gustin, Vincent Taylor, Michael Dunn, and Blake Hance. Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield admitted to meeting Hance in the locker room the day of the game, and the result was one where the team that had been the little brother for decades was up by at least two scores for 54 of the game’s 60 minutes.
While winning is the ultimate proof of concept, the amount of victories off the field have been just as integral to the Browns success than those on it.
Following the NFL Draft, tight end David Njoku requested a trade out of Cleveland. Not only would Njoku not get his wish, he would completely buy in to Stefanski’s work, hauling in a few touchdowns throughout the season and even do some of the dirty work when needed.
The more physical team won last night. Watch 85's finish here on Watt. I see you, Chief. Bought into the team. #Browns pic.twitter.com/W1Zb2gtlII
— OBR Film Breakdown (@TheOBRFilmBDN) January 11, 2021
Where the Jackson-era Browns were marred by in-fighting and coordinators going against the grain, the Stefanski-era, thus far, is decorated in one where the assistants build on the foundation the head coach promised a year earlier.
“It’s Kevin’s team,” said special team coordinator Mike Priefer, who filled in for Stefanski as acting head coach in the win. “The foundation has been set. There was a lot of celebrating and hooting and hollering and guys just very, very excited. It means a lot.”
“We have a bunch of fighters,” Stefanski said of the Browns locker room in the week following the win. “They’re all playing for something bigger than themselves.”
Typically in sports, a team excelling without one of it’s pieces is a referendum on addition by subtraction. In the case of the Browns, however, it’s a referendum not only on promises kept, but a team collectively living it’s culture.The true mark of a leader is how his or her team performs when he or she cannot be there to guide the way. To reiterate, the Cleveland Browns won their first playoff game since 1994. Following the game, WFNY’s Will GIbson poetically asked, “Has Kevin Stefanski built a ship so steady that it can cruise without him at the helm?” While 360-odd days is not much of a sample size in the NFL, it appears the answer is decidedly “yes.”