Browns lose head coach for playoff game due to COVID-19
CLEVELAND — Amid a masked, muted celebration in the locker room after the Browns ended the NFL’s longest playoff drought, coach Kevin Stefanski asked for a game ball and then told Pro Bowl guard Joel Bitonio to step forward.
Stefanski flipped the ball to Bitonio, who had survived seven long seasons, 0-16 in 2017, the Johnny Manziel mess and numerous coaching changes.
“You’re going to the playoffs, 75,” Stefanki told Bitonio.
Two days later, nothing is certain with the Browns.
Positive COVID-19 tests have knocked Stefanski, Bitonio, wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge and at least two assistant coaches out of
Cleveland’s wildcard game at Pittsburgh on Sunday night — the Browns’ first playoff appearance since the 2002 season.
The Browns announced Tuesday
— 18 years to the day since their last playoff game — that Stefanski tested positive for the coronavirus, which has plagued the team in recent weeks and has thrown Cleveland’s plans this week into disarray for the wild-card game.
In less than 48 hours, joy for the Browns and their fans long-suffering fans was all but extinguished.
Now, after beating the Steelers last Sunday to make the playoff field, the Browns are implementing contingency plans drawn up when the pandemic began.
Stefanski, who in his first year returned the Browns to respectability, can only coach virtually from home this week. He’ll be replaced by special teams coordinator Mike Priefer, and the Browns will have to make other staff adjustments as tight ends coach Drew Petzing and defensive backs coach Jeff Howard are also out.
Despite the Browns’ issues — they now have eight rotational players and five coaches on the COVID-19 list — league spokesman Brian McCarthy said the game is on schedule.
NFL rules state that anyone testing positive must be away from the team at least 10 days.
It’s still possible the Browns will lose other players after contact tracing is completed.
The genomic sequencing conducted by the league and its medical partner last week showed Cleveland’s cases were unconnected, meaning the cases came from outside and weren’t spread within the team’s headquarters.
With Stefanski out, coordinator Alex Van Pelt will assume Cleveland’s play-calling duties.