Browns fire coach Stefanski on NFL’s Black Monday

After finishing second in the AFC North for the second straight season, the Cleveland Browns fired head coach Kevin Stefanski.

The Browns finished the 2025 season with a disappointing 5-12 record under Stefanski, who came with them in 2020 and made two play-off appearances.

The decision was made on “Black Monday,” the day after the regular season’s conclusion when NFL teams typically make significant coaching adjustments.

Dee and Jimmy Haslam, Browns’ owners, praised Stefanski as “a good football coach and an even better person,” but he also claimed a head coaching position change was required.

In his first season, Stefanski helped the Browns to their first play-off victory since 2002 and their first post-season victory in 26 years.

He joins Forrest Gregg as the only Browns coach to receive the award in 2020 and 2023, making him the first two to win the distinction.

Stefanski, who finished with a 45-56 record over six seasons, said, “I leave with an enormous sense of gratitude.”

“When I arrived in January 2020, Browns fans, this team, and this community welcomed me and my family with open arms.” How kind of treatment we received cannot be adequately expressed in words.

Andrew Berry, who was hired alongside Stefanski in 2020, will continue as the team’s general manager, according to The Browns.

After the Atlanta Falcons fired Raheem Morris and Terry Fontenot on Sunday night, Stefanski is the second head coach to be fired as NFL head coach following the season’s conclusion.