Cleveland Browns hire head coach Kevin Stefanski

Kevin Stefanski (vikings.com)

The Cleveland Browns found a new head coach on Monday as they have settled on former Minnesota Vikings offensive co-ordinator Kevin Stefanski of Wayne, Pennsylvania. The move to Cleveland is significant for Stefanski because he has spent the last 14 seasons as a Vikings assistant coach. He has been their assistant to the head coach, assistant quarterbacks coach, tight ends coach, running backs coach, quarterbacks coach and finally offensive co-ordinator.

Stefanski had been the Vikings interim offensive co-ordinator when Minnesota fired offensive co-ordinator John DeFilippo of Youngstown, Ohio on December 11, 2018. He became the full-time offensive co-ordinator in 2019.

Stefanski is replacing Freddie Kitchens of Gadsden, Alabama, who was fired on December 29. The Browns had high expectations heading into the season as they had acquired wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. in a blockbuster deal with the New York Giants. However Cleveland came up completely flat in a 43-23 opening day loss to the Tennessee Titans and never regrouped as they had a record of six wins and 10 losses.

The acquisition of Stefanski could be questioned when you consider how much the Vikings offense was out of sync on Saturday against the San Francisco 49ers. Minnesota only had 21 rushing yards the entire game as Dalvin Cook only averaged two yards per carry (nine rushes for 18 yards). The Vikings passing attack was not too much better as quarterback Kirk Cousins only had 172 passing yards. The only big play the Vikings had was the 41 yard touchdown from Cousins to Stefon Diggs in the first quarter.

While in the AFC North, Stefanski will face very difficult defenses in the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers. He will need to make better in-game adjustments in 2020 than he did in this year’s postseason.