Is Sunday the Biggest Game of Stefanski's Career?

The Cleveland Browns are set to host the Tennessee Titans in just over 24 hours on Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadium. After everything that occurred in last Monday's 26-22 loss to the Steelers, it feels like we are already at a critical fork in the road to determining the outcome of this season.

All of Browns nation is still hurting after the devastating loss of Nick Chubb for the season. The noise surrounding this team has certainly reached a fevered pitch from critics and a sizable portion of the fanbase who believe that after eight games quarterback Deshaun Watson will never be the player he once was.

People want somewhere to point the finger to explain the lack of early returns on the $230M investment the Browns have made in Watson. After an entire offseason of being told the offense was being revamped to play more to Watson's strengths, those critics believe that the plan has already failed despite being 1-1, overall.

In addition, those same critics who have blamed head coach Kevin Stefanski for bad defenses over the past few years are now giving him zero credit for a defense that looks like one of the leagues most dominant after two weeks.

I am certainly not in the camp of people that I write about above and understand that life in the NFL is never easy and its a process. I was always of the mindset that due to lack of live reps in the preseason, that the defense may need to carry the offense during the beginning of the year as they work through things.

That doesn't mean that I have zero concerns moving forward. During preseason, I called the current four-game stretch that we're now half way through, the most important four-game stretch of Stefanski's career. When thinking about where things are today, I found myself asking the question; is this the most important regular season game for Stefanski in his career as head coach?

I think that when you consider what lies ahead for this football team, you can easily make the case that it is. After this week we have the 2-0, division leading, Baltimore Ravens coming to town. If this week against the Titans doesn't go well, next week will certainly be the biggest, as the team can not afford to head into a bye 1-3, staring down the 49ers in week 6. 

Stefanski was certainly playing with 'house money' during his first season after jumping out to a 4-1 record and leading the team to the playoffs. In year two, he was given lots of grace as the reigning NFL Coach of the Year in a season that was doomed the moment Baker Mayfield was injured. The Christmas Day game against Green Bay could have been the biggest to that point. 

Last season's games with the Chargers, Falcons and Patriots were certainly ones that defined the season but would always have the asterisk of the Watson suspension. Now there is nowhere to hide as the team CEO, as the star quarterback is available and healthy. With the loss of Chubb, everything will now be on Watson moving forward. 

The challenge will now fall on Stefanski to correct the issues over the first two weeks and put Watson in a better position to succeed. The pressure of the season is mounting and I don't think he has ever needed a win more than he does tomorrow afternoon.