5 reasons the Cleveland Browns will win the AFC North in 2020

2. New Head Coach

We’ve mentioned Kevin Stefanski multiple times across the article already, but he deserves his own part of the piece. The mistakes at head coach have put the Browns back for decades. Since the Browns returned in 1999, they’ve had 11 head coaches. Only one has been there for more than three seasons, and it was Romeo Crennel who had less than six wins in three of the four seasons he was there.

The Browns quickly realized their mistake with the hiring of Freddie Kitchens by firing him after one season. They hired Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski. He was a coach they looked at before last season, and he clearly made an impression with the decision-makers there.

Stefanski was brought in to deal with this high-powered offense. He’s gotten the best out of another high-powered offense in Minnesota. In fact, their offenses are remarkably similar. There’s a quarterback that’s looking to fight his way into the top 15. There are two star receivers with not a ton of depth behind them. They both have a tight end who can catch a lot in the red zone thanks to the secondary focusing on the receivers. Then, most similar of all, he’s used to building his offense around his running back.

The Browns need to have the offense start with Nick Chubb, as it started with Dalvin Cook in Minnesota. This will force defenses to wait on the run and will make play-action passes that much more effective. Stefanski’s scheme will help take the Browns to new heights.

The team just needs a leader more than anything. It remains to be seen whether Stefanski is that, but he has to be better than what the Browns got from Hue Jackson or Freddie Kitchens. Keeping things in house will help them go a long way.