So, let me get this straight, please.
I am trying — really hard — to understand it, but it is . . . well, really hard to grasp what’s going on.
Even though Deshaun Watson is, without a doubt, the absolute worst quarterback in Browns history (not counting those end-of-the-roster players who were thrust into the starting role only because of injury), making this the worst offense the Browns have ever had, at least statistically, and even though the club, at 1-5 and with four straight losses, has all but eliminated itself from postseason consideration well over two weeks before Halloween, Kevin Stefanski, who is masquerading as head coach, flatly refuses to bench him.
It is like a chain smoker refusing to admit they don’t have a tobacco issue. Denying a problem will not make it go away. In fact, it will only exacerbate it.
But I digress.
Why is even just the possibility of benching Watson so casually dismissed by Stefanski? As I have mentioned before, I think he has been ordered to do so by Andrew Berry so as to give Watson every chance to succeed in an effort to try to justify the egregious trade the general manager made to bring Watson here. That’s despite the fact it’s obvious to even the most casual observers that it has absolutely no chance of happening. Watson has lost whatever he once had for whatever reason and isn’t getting it back, so, at least in Cleveland, he is done.
In the real world, the one in which the deep thinkers of the Browns refuse to live since they obviously care nothing about winning, even the best quarterbacks sometimes get benched, if only for a short time. That has certainly been true with the Browns over the years.
Frank Ryan, who was the best passer in pro football for a five-year period in the mid-1960s and threw three touchdown passes to lead the Browns to a 27-0 victory over the heavily-favored Baltimore Colts in the 1964 NFL Championship Game, eventually got benched in favor of Bill Nelsen.
And Nelsen, who led the Browns to two straight NFL (now NFC) Championship Game appearances in 1968 and ‘69, eventually got benched in favor of Mike Phipps.
Brian Sipe, who in 1980 became the last Brown to win the NFL Most Valuable Player Award after leading the Kardiac Kids to their first AFC Central championship in nine years by turning in the best season by a quarterback in Browns history, and who owns nearly career passing record in team history, got benched in favor of Paul McDonald.
And Bernie Kosar, who led the Browns to five straight playoff appearances, including four Central titles and three trips to the AFC Championship Game, and who threw for just short of 500 yards — 489 — in a postseason game, got benched in favor of Mike Pagel.
The great Otto Graham, the Pro Football Hall of Famer who led the first Browns teams to 10 straight league title games, with seven championdjiis, never got benched, but every time he threw a few incompletions in a row, the fans got restless and began clamoring for George Ratterman.
Imagine that!! Talk about a way-too-short leash, and a complete lack of patience.
So, considering all that, then, why does Deshaun Watson, who is so much less accomplished than any of them, and is playing much worse than they ever did, even in their lowest moments, avoid getting benched as well.
That makes no sense, and makes the top Browns people look worse than they already do.
And to think we’re not even to the halfway point of the season.
Yikes!!
Steve King
