The Cleveland Browns head to U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Vikings in what may be Kevin Stefanski’s most important game yet.
After a dominant nine-sack game from the defense n Week 3, the Cleveland Browns will travel over 700 miles to Minneapolis where they’ll meet the 1-2 Minnesota Vikings in a Week 4 matchup Sunday that will feature the highly overlooked return of head coach Kevin Stefanski to U.S. Bank Stadium.
After the failed Freddie Kitchens experiment of 2019, the Cleveland Browns hired then-Vikings offensive coordinator Stefanski as head coach after 14 years with the organization – and Browns fans haven’t looked back.
Stefanksi comes back to his old stomping grounds boasting a 14-7 total record as head coach of the Browns, while the Vikings and head coach Mike Zimmer have gone 8-11 in the same time period.
Sunday’s game will represent the first time Stefanski has come back to Minnesota since his departure, which the Minnesota Vikings appear all to happy about:
Here’s the picture the #Vikings used in the weekly release vs #Browns. Can barely recognize HC Kevin Stefanski. pic.twitter.com/yIfzf6uewG
— Brad Stainbrook (@StainbrookNFL) September 30, 2021
Expect Sunday’s game to be a showdown between two teams who will rely heavily on the run, as the Browns will likely continue to lean on the freight train that is the combination of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, while Minnesota will hope to get Pro-Bowl running back Dalvin Cook back from an injury that led him to miss last week’s game. In the case Cook misses more time, expect the Vikings to lean on backup Alexander Mattison for touches.
Fans should also expect a shootout, as both teams enter the game with dangerous deep threats and quarterbacks who aren’t afraid to take deep shots to said weapons — Baker Mayfield to Odell Beckham Jr. and Anthony Schwartz, and Kirk Cousins to Adam Thielen and Justin Jefferson.
For Stefanski, this game likely represents a chance at redemption after he was passed on for head coaching jobs for the last several years, notably in 2019 when the Cleveland Browns decided to promote then-OC Freddie Kitchens to head coach, leaving Stefanski on the backburner for another year, Look for Stefanski to play aggressively as he shows the league why he belongs where he is and what he is capable of.