I’ve been trying to find the right words to put down to explain my thoughts on the 2024 version of the Cleveland Browns.

This is by far the worst season I’ve experienced in my fandom and yes that includes the 1-31 stretch during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

Those seasons were expected considering we were in a multi-year rebuild and the people were tearing down the roster to the bare minimums, stock piling draft capital and creating cap space to try and rebuild the roster into eventually a hopeful playoff and Super Bowl contender.

Since then, the Browns seemed to have turned a corner, establishing a stable organization under the leadership of Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski. However, with only ten games completed this season, the franchise appears to be spiraling into chaos. If things don’t improve in the coming weeks, the duo that helped resurrect the Browns could find themselves on the hot seat.

Before I continue, I want to say that I like both Berry and Stefanski and I think during their overall tenures they’ve been better than most of their predecessors in Cleveland.

The reason this season has gone off the rails goes back to the biggest transaction that was made during this regime’s tenure: the acquisition of Deshaun Watson.

In what will likely go down as the worst trade in NFL history, the Deshaun Watson era has been a complete disaster for the Browns and they have no one to blame but themselves.

Moving on from Baker Mayfield following the 2021 season was the right move but landing on acquiring Watson, which included surrendering three first-round draft picks (six in total) and giving him a fully guaranteed, $230 million contract should not have been the best resolution to solving the Browns’ quarter of a century dilemma with the biggest position in sports.

It’s still unclear who was the driving force behind pursuing Watson but there’s been rumblings that it was Andrew Berry who sold the organization on making the move. Of course the organization will say that it was a collaborative effort and everyone was on board but it’s hard to believe that considering how the offense has flourished without Watson during his multiple lengthy absences from the field since his arrival.

Well now nearly three years later, the consequences of that trade have reared it’s ugly head with the results on the field because the organization kept trying to justify this move and have tried to act like they needed to prove to everyone that it was the right move to make and the moves that the franchise made nearly a year ago have altered the course of the franchise both in the short and long term.

After the playoff loss to Houston, many were surprised when the Browns gutted their offensive coaching staff firing offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and running backs coach Stump Mitchell as well as letting offensive line coach Bill Callahan leave to join his son Brian on his coaching staff in Tennessee.

The Browns hired Ken Dorsey as offensive coordinator with the hopes that Stefanski and Dorsey could create an offense to better suit Watson’s strengths and potentially revive his career coming off a major shoulder surgery during the 2023 season.

What it did do is completely destroy the offense and the identity that Kevin Stefanski and his staff established during the first four seasons. They went from a zone blocking, run-first, play action passing offense to more of a shotgun based passing attack offense that’s on pace to be the worst Browns offense since the 0-16 2017 season. The Browns rank 31st in scoring and 27th in yards after being in the top 20 in both categories in each year prior under Stefanski.

Watson struggled mightily in his seven starts this season before his Achilles tendon ruptured against Cincinnati in Week 7 ranking towards the bottom among NFL starting quarterbacks and failing to throw for 200 passing yards in any of his starts.

I don’t think that changing the offense should’ve been the solution to trying to salvage or justify the Watson trade because what it’s done is make the Browns worse than it’s been in nearly a decade. Every other quarterback during the Kevin Stefanski era has made the offense competent, even Watson prior to the shoulder surgery had some decent performances in 2023 albeit against struggling teams such as Tennessee and Arizona and of course the comeback victory against Baltimore.

The passing attack has come alive in Watson’s absence but Dorsey’s ineffectiveness to establish the running game which he wasn’t very well at doing that in Buffalo either has led to the Browns still struggling offensively despite Jameis Winston posting two 300-yard games but the offense has averaged just 17.6 points in his three starts at quarterback.

So now the Browns sit at 2-8 and it seems like the seats for Berry and Stefanski are indeed getting hotter with each loss that continues to accumulate. Including the postseason, the Browns have lost 10 of their last 12 games since clinching a postseason bid against the New York Jets a mere 327 days ago.

Many have started questioning the effort displayed by the team especially on the defensive side down the stretch this past Sunday against New Orleans when the Browns were tied with the Saints only for Taysom Hill to turn into prime Michael Vick running all over the Browns and the defense looking like they wanted to go home early. If the defense has already checked out, it makes you wonder if Stefanski and defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz have started to be tuned out.

We know Jimmy Haslam can be an impatient owner although he’s been steady and supportive of this regime since he hired the duo in 2020. We also know he’s been very resourceful as he’s spent more money than any NFL owner by a wide margin in the last several seasons to try and put the best football team out on the field. Not every move has worked out we know Haslam will keep trying even if it’s the wrong move.

Would it be a mistake to fire Berry and/or Stefanski? Many could advocate for that especially considering they were just given contract extensions over the summer. However it could also be a mistake to commit to them especially if the losses keep piling up down the stretch and if the effort continues to decline on the field meaning they don’t have confidence in the regime moving forward.

Thursday night’s matchup between the Browns and the Steelers promises to be intriguing, especially with a significant presence of Pittsburgh fans expected at Huntington Bank Field. Judging by social media, it seems that many Browns fans are feeling apathetic about the team at this point and with the forecast showing early winter weather conditions, Browns fans will probably be less inclined to attend the game.

If the Browns get blown out, will changes be on the horizon? With Jimmy Haslam leading the charge, anything is possible.