You can apply the blame to Mayfield all you want but that will not fix the problem the Browns face. Six of the Browns current 8 losses have been by 6 or less points. In every one of those games the Browns had the opportunity to win it on a final drive or close it out for the win. As a team, they failed in each and every instance.

Now the easy way out is to make the QB the fall guy. People are quick to point out Baker's flaws and he deserves some of the blame but if you really watched those six games there were other issues much greater IMHO that must be
addressed or it won't matter who's standing under center for the Cleveland Browns.

As a QB, you don't have to be lights out every damn game. The important factor is stay competitive and give yourself a shot at winning. Yesterday - PHI got an interception with 24 seconds left to secure a win over WAS, the LAR (Stafford) produced a 3:33 drive and scored with 1:01 left to beat BAL, Brady led TBB on a 93 yd drive in 1:57 to score and defeat the Jets with 21 seconds left on the clock, Carr led the LVR on a 60 yd 11 play drive in the final 1:56 for a 33 yd FG to beat the Colts as time expired, Mahomes and KCC put together a 12 play 5:43 drive for a FG to tie the game with 6:01 left only to have Burrows and CIN produce a 20 play drive for a game winning FG of 20 yds to win on the game's final play, and finally - after the Cowboys scored to pull themselves within 3 of ARI - Murray led ARI on a 11 play 52 yd drive to close out the game with Dallas never seeing the ball again.

Almost in every instance, the before mentioned are still in the playoff hunt and except for PHI have the ability on any given Sunday to score quickly or close out games where you never see the ball again. Add in Rodgers, Prescott, Herbert and normally a Wilson and you have about 10 QB's that you absolutely don't want to have the ball with 2-3 minutes left in a close game.

Every one of these guys (except for Murray and Wilson who missed games due to injury) have over 4,000 yds passing this year. In fact, of the top 10 passers, every single one of them are either in the playoffs or still in the hunt with 1 week to go. Baker on the other hand has thrown for only 2,825 yds rated 25th and 24th in attempts with 380. Of the top 10 rushers in the league, 6 won't be in the playoffs. 7 of the top 10 passers for yardage are on pace to win their division - that's 7 of the 8 division winners. 10 of the 10 are still in the playoff hunt. Mayfield is 133 attempts and counting less than the lowest amount of attempts by a top 10 passer.

Stefanski and the Browns scheme is all wrong for today's NFL. Now you might like the fact that Chubb and Hunt are the faces of the franchise with Stefanski's run first offense but Cincy won the division with a second year QB passing for almost 2,000 more yards than Mayfield and "YES" they also have a 1,000 yard rusher. For those nay sayers that think we can court a Rodgers, Wilson, Watson or Carr to Cleveland you better think again because no QB is coming anywhere near Cleveland to throw 150 less passes a season. No receiver worth his salt would ever consider coming to Cleveland after they've watched Hooper, OBJ, and Landry get their targets cut in half. The Browns are not an offensive minded team and to tell you the truth, I don't believe they even practice 2-minute drills or plays to score quick. They are way to disorganized when they get in those situations to make me feel otherwise. Thats a coaching problem and I'm confident that it will not change whether Baker's healthy or not. Continually playing a 3-TE offense does not build confidence in your QB either. Baker's last year in Cleveland will be 2022 unless it does change. The offense is not set up to make Baker successful. The offense is set to run the ball. Until that mindset changes, Cleveland will have a below average QB as long as Stefanski is calling the shots.

Keep in mind that Chubb and Hunt missed multiple games this year. Now some will say that is the reason for the poor season. I say it shines a bigger light on the issue because any normal thinking person would think that the passing attempts would go up during that injury period. Baker hasn't thrown for over 250 yds since week 5. Baker only has 2 games the entire season where he's thrown for over 250 yds, week 1 and 5. To take this a little further, in 2019 Baker had 534 pass attempts. Enter Stefanski in 2020 and Baker's attempts dropped to 486, a reduction of 48 pass attempts. In 2021, it's glaring as currently Bakers has 380 attempts which as on now is 154 less attempts than 2019. in yardage, Baker is 700 plus yards behind last year and over a 1,000 less than 2019. Call it what you want, Stefanski has turned Baker from a gun slinger into a game manager and his run first at all costs is going to set the franchise back a decade not to mention a new and disheartening search for another franchise QB.

Stay tuned.......