The Cleveland Browns keep finding new ways to lose, as their 27-20 defeat to the New York Jets showed. The loss put head coach Kevin Stefanski squarely on the hot seat, with his job hanging in the balance. Yet, according to Browns insider Mary Kay Cabot, he may have bought himself a little more time.

“I think Kevin Stefanski is 100% totally safe,” she explained on the Orange and Brown Talk podcast on Monday. “I think that [owner] Jimmy Haslam indicated even at the NFL annual meeting that [general manager] Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski were going to be breaking in rookie quarterbacks this year, and this was not the season in which they were going to have their feet held to the fire.

“I really don’t think Kevin is in any trouble right now. Maybe they’ll re-evaluate after the season.”

Her remarks act as a reinforcement of this being the long-term approach, despite the disappointing results. The Browns’ record under Stefanski is 42-51. That is not to say he hasn’t had a positive influence over the team. For instance, he led the team to their first playoff game in 26 years during his first season as head coach.

His offensive playbook initially helped boost the offense to heights they never reached in decades. And let us not forget how his leadership brought the team together in an unprecedented NFL season during COVID-19. In the end, all of that culminated in the Associated Press selecting Stefanski as NFL Coach of the Year.

Stefanski sought buy-in from his players and invested time in building culture and processes that valued vision and communication. His presence provided a steady and authentic transparency to the team. In fact, his ways were a stark contrast from the 2019 Browns, which was led by Freddie Kitchens. That early momentum, however, got lost among patterns of inconsistent offense and penalty-prone plays.

And while Cabot points to a rebuilding year, Stefanski’s overall record tells a story of diminishing returns since his successful first season. So, patience may be wearing thin among Browns fans. The Berry-Stefanski era, once hailed as the start of a rare period of stability in Cleveland, has slowly and steadily eroded public confidence in their abilities.

Plus, the quarterback position has been a point of concern for them. Rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel was thrust into a starting role after the trade of veteran Joe Flacco. However, he has had an inconsistent start. In the loss to the Jets, he was sacked six times, though he eventually did settle in later.

Naturally, not every insider is as optimistic as Cabot. ESPN Cleveland’s Tony Rizzo was critical on Sunday after the loss, demanding Stefanski be fired immediately.

“Come out of the bye week and that is what you produce? Folks, goodbye,” Rizzo said on The Really Big Show.

Sure, the coach has taken responsibility for the loss, but it’s the whole team that needs to perform. And he understands that.

Kevin Stefanski opens up on embarrassing loss to Jets

Out of several mistakes, one of the key moments came when defensive lineman Cameron Thomas jumped offsides on a fourth-and-5. The penalty gave New York a first down and allowed them to run out the clock. Cameras caught one of the rare moments of emotion from Stefanski, as he took off his headset and said, “Oh my God.”

When Stefanski appeared in the post-game press conference, following Sunday’s loss, he didn’t blame Thomas.

”Listen, like I said earlier, we’ll win as a team, we’ll lose as a team. Again, it’s never about one play. We have to do our job, all of us,” he said, reinforcing his belief that discipline and execution are at the root of Cleveland’s struggles.

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For now, Kevin Stefanski’s job seems secure, bolstered by the patience of ownership and the understanding that this season’s failures are partly from an offense that’s undergoing a period of rebuilding and the pains of a rookie quarterback. Currently, their offensive woes stem from a lack of talent, and Pro Football Focus ranks their offensive line as the worst in the league.

At a time when Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta left the organization to go to the Colorado Rockies, it looks like the whole team might need a large-scale reset. And no coaching position should be safe after a performance like this.