In Week 12, it seemed as if the Cleveland Browns may have finally been trending upward. Shedeur Sanders became the first member of the franchise to win his first career start since 1995, the offense had finally managed to score more than 20 points in one outing, and they even found their sixth win in the past two seasons.
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Unfortunately, that success failed to carry over into the following weeks. The Tennessee Titans figured to be the last beatable opponent on the Browns’ schedule, and even though Shedeur Sanders was able to produce 364 passing yards and three touchdowns, it still wasn’t enough to overcome his 2025 NFL Draft rival in Cam Ward.
According to Skip Bayless, that alone is enough to call for the firing of the team’s head coach, Kevin Stefanski. While labeling one of the final sequences of the day as a “disaster” for Cleveland, Bayless suggested that the Browns’ head coach isn’t in the business of seeing Sanders thrive.
“STEFANSKI BLOWS ANOTHER GAME,” Bayless tweeted. “HE JUST COULDN’T STAND SEEING SHEDEUR TIE THE GAME WITH A 2-POINT CONVERSION AFTER SUCH A GREAT LONG TD DRIVE. FIRE STEFANSKI!”
Sanders was able to avoid the Titans’ pressure and scramble for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to make the contest a one-score affair, but he was promptly subbed out as Cleveland elected to run a wildcat-themed play call on the two-point conversion. The Browns were down by eight points and were hoping to cut Tennessee’s lead to less than a touchdown, but their efforts were stymied by the Titans.
Cleveland then tried for an onside kick, but it was to no avail. In the end, the Titans took home a narrow 31-29 victory over the Browns, cementing Cleveland’s right to be labeled as the worst team in all of professional football.
Some are blaming Sanders for simply not doing enough, others are wondering why a head coach would elect to remove his QB from the field on a game-changing down while trailing. In the end, however, it’ll likely be Stefanski, rather than Sanders, who will shoulder the blame for this one.
Week 14 officially marks the best instance in which Sanders has played as a starter in the NFL, and given the way in which things ended, it’s hard to blame him for the loss while also recognizing that he had a career day. If anything, this will only make Stefanski’s perceived preference of Dillon Gabriel that much more questionable, as Sanders is now responsible for the most passing yards in a single game by a Cleveland Brown all year.
Really can’t say enough good things about Shedeur Sanders today: he’s improving by the week – not only with his decision-making, but with his reads and overall accuracy as well.
Simply put, 364 yards and 4 total TDs in your third career start is awfully impressive. https://t.co/MjS0ItUi87 pic.twitter.com/NOvfhe5qPk
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) December 7, 2025
Considering that neither the former Super Bowl MVP in Joe Flacco, nor Gabriel, were able to produce 300+ passing yards in a single game with the Browns this season, that certainly raises more questions about the coaching staff than it does Sanders. It’s going to be a tough offseason for the Browns’ coaching staff, but then again, that figured to be the case no matter what, so perhaps this isn’t that big of a surprise after all.
