The fallout continues from the Minnesota Vikings’ playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday and less than 24 hours after seeing their season come to a close, Kevin Stefanski has been chosen as the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns, according to NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport.
Sources: The #Browns are planning to hire #Vikings OC Kevin Stefanski as their new head coach. Runner-up last year, winner this year.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 12, 2020
The 37-year-old had been with the Vikings dating all the way back to the 2006 season as he worked his way up from being an assistant on Brad Childress’ staff to the Vikings’ offensive coordinator this past season.
Stefanski’s 13-month stint as offensive coordinator brought highs and lows as he was able to coax the most efficient season of Kirk Cousins’ career, but also saw his offense get too stagnant and reliant on the running game.
This came to a head on Saturday when the Vikings mustered just 147 yards of total offense in a playoff loss to San Francisco. That performance made 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman miffed that his defensive coordinator, Robert Saleh didn’t get the job over Stefanski.
Wow just wow…… just W….O….W…. guess I should have expected it https://t.co/NqY7s1GxP5
— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) January 12, 2020
Regardless, Stefanski is regarded as one of the brightest young offensive minds in the NFL and was a finalist for the Browns job last year before they chose Freddie Kitchens, who was fired after one season.
His arrival to Cleveland should be good news for an offense that underachieved despite having Baker Mayfield, Jarvis Landry, Odell Beckham Jr. and Nick Chubb on the roster.
For the Vikings, Stefanski’s departure creates another void that will need to be filled prior to 2020. The Vikings have plenty of footprints from offensive consultant Gary Kubiak and quarterbacks coach Klint Kubiak in their scheme, but maybe they will look to bring back Pat Shurmur, who served as the Vikings’ offensive coordinator from 2016 to 2017.
Twenty-twenty will mark the fifth consecutive season the Vikings will have a new offensive coordinator.
