There is a universal truth in the NFL that has been around as long as the league itself.
No team has sustained championship success without a top-flight quarterback.
That is not to imply that coaching does
not matter, as the idea that a coach can just “roll out the balls” and titles will follow if the roster is talented enough is so simplistic as to be laughable.
But the history of the league reveals time and again that no head coach is winning without the right quarterback running the offense:
- George Halas won four championships with quarterback Sid Luckman. In the 29 years he coached without Luckman, Halas won just one title.
- Paul Brown won seven championships with quarterback Otto Graham. In the seven years he coached without Graham, Brown won no titles.
- Tom Landry won two championships with quarterback Roger Staubach. In the 20 years he coached without Staubach, Landry won no titles.
- Chuck Noll won four championships with quarterback Terry Bradshaw. In the nine years he coached without Bradshaw, Noll won no titles.
- Jimmy Johnson won two championships with quarterback Troy Aikman. In four seasons without Aikman, Johnson won no titles.
- Bill Belichick won six championships with quarterback Brady. In 10 seasons without Brady, Belichick won no titles.
- Andy Reid has won three championships with quarterback Patrick Mahomes. In 19 seasons without Mahomes, Reid has won no titles.
If there is only one thing to remember about how the NFL works, it is that the quarterback matters. A lot.
That is something to keep in mind this offseason if the Cleveland Browns decide to move on from head coach Kevin Stefanski. They could create an AI version of Paul Brown to call plays and have a hologram of Brown stalking the sidelines, and it won’t matter if the Browns don’t finally solve the issue at quarterback.
And make no mistake; if the Browns do make a change at head coach, the goal must be to build a team that can achieve sustained success.
Every few years, the NFL sees a team make an unexpected run to the Super Bowl built on a bit of luck and an easy schedule. The Atlanta Falcons have done it twice (1998 and 2016), only to fall back on mostly hard times. The Carolina Panthers (2003 and 2015) fall into the same category.
This year’s New England Patriots, led by head coach Mike Vrabel, who the Browns “had in the building last year” in case you had not heard, may be the latest example as they are currently 9-2, while playing one of the weakest schedules in the history of the NFL.
No one can fault a team for the schedule it plays, but seven of New England’s win have come against teams that are ranked No. 22 or lower in ESPN’s Football Power Index, including five of the bottom six in the Carolina Panthers (No. 27), New Orleans Saints (No. 29), New York Jets (No. 30), Tennessee Titans (No. 31) and the Browns (No. 32).
To ignore that the Patriots’ wins have come against teams that have a combined winning percentage of .359 is beyond obtuse. (Are there degrees of being obtuse? We may need a ruling on this.)
As fun as it would be to see the Browns finally play in a Super Bowl, if they were to immediately fall back into a cycle of mediocrity, what would be the point? It will be far more fun to see them build a team capable of challenging for a Super Bowl every year, just ask fans who are old enough to remember the late 1980s.
Ownership will reach a major turning point for the franchise once this season comes to a close. Do they stay the course with Stefanski or head into a coaching search, with a list of uninspiring candidates? And can they pull that off while simultaneously working to solve the quarterback situation with a pair of first-round draft picks at the ready?
So fire the coaching staff or keep them all.
None of it will matter until the Browns finally find a quarterback who can be a true difference maker where it counts.
