<\/p>\n
The Cleveland Browns have experienced little to no success since their return to the NFL in 1999.<\/p>\n
But there was one brief period where it appeared the franchise had finally turned the corner.<\/p>\n
That was in 2020, when first-year head coach Kevin Stefanski and third-year quarterback Baker Mayfield helped lead the Browns to the playoffs for the first time in 18 years.<\/p>\n
Once there, they handed the Pittsburgh Steelers the third playoff loss in what is now a seven-game postseason losing streak, and then pushed the Kansas City Chiefs to the brink before falling in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n
At the time, it seemed as if the Browns had finally cracked the code with a young head coach and a brash quarterback joining together to take on the NFL.<\/p>\n
This is Cleveland, of course, where everything ends badly when it involves the Browns, so the joy did not last long.<\/p>\n
In 2021, an injured shoulder left Mayfield ineffective, and the Browns lost four of their last six games to miss the playoffs. That offseason, ownership made the ill-fated decision to trade for quarterback Deshaun Watson, shipped Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers for peanuts (a conditional fifth-round selection), and things were never the same.<\/p>\n
Mayfield bounced from the Panthers to the Los Angeles Rams before landing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2023, where he has thrown for 12,237 yards and 95 touchdowns in three seasons, while leading the Buccaneers to the playoffs twice.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in Cleveland, the Browns cycled through quarterbacks as Watson was suspended in 2022, and then injured in 2023 and 2024, limiting him to just 19 games.<\/p>\n
A surprise playoff appearance in 2023 helped to ease some of the hurt, but a combined record of 8-26 the past two seasons finally brought an end to Stefanski\u2019s tenure in Cleveland. (When you can\u2019t fire the owner, someone has to take the fall.)<\/p>\n
As fate would have it, Stefanski was recently hired by the Atlanta Falcons, who share the NFC South Division with the Buccaneers and Mayfield, setting up an annual home-and-home meeting between the head coach and his former quarterback.<\/p>\n
\n#Falcons<\/a>\u2019 Kevin Stefanski had a dumpster fire at quarterback in Cleveland — Baker Mayfield and Deshaun Watson failed, which started a chain reaction to 11 other starters. QB Shedeur Sanders closed out last season with seven starts. https:\/\/t.co\/nnuXs2ZCbd<\/a><\/p>\n
— D. Orlando Ledbetter (@DOrlandoAJC) January 20, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n