NO SIZZLE, BUT HOPEFULLY THERE’S SUBSTANCE

By STEVE KING

So, then, it’s Kevin Stefanski, huh?

The Browns have hired the Minnesota Vikings offensive coordinator as their head coach.

It’s of Little surprise, since he would have gotten the job last year if then General Manager John Dorsey wouldn’t have had the power to overrule everyone in the building and hire Freddie Kitchens instead. With Dorsey gone, the path was cleared to take Stefanski this time.

And it has generated little enthusiasm from most of those outside Browns Headquarters. Adding Stefanski has not moved the meter one bit.

Perhaps you wanted the favorite, according to many, when this process started in New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, the local guy with all those Super Bowl rings. He might have worked out here, but we’ll never know.

Or maybe you wanted someone else, such as Mike McCarthy, who was gobbled up quickly by the Dallas Cowboys. He might have worked out here, but we’ll never know.

I wanted San Francisco defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, whose guys overwhelmed Stefanski’s guys – egregiously so – in the 49ers’ 27-10 beatdown of a win in an NFC Divisional playoff game on Saturday. Both of these men have been considered to be rising stars who were just waiting for a team to roll the dice with them. Maybe Saleh might have worked out, but we’ll never know.

But what I do know are these things:

*Stefanski got outcoached badly by Saleh – he had no answer for what the 49ers were doing – and that set off an alarm in my mind. I can’t lie. The Vikings offense looked way too much like the Browns offense did for much of this season.

*The Browns’ top people worked hard on this hire. They did their homework – and then some – and they are convinced that Stefanski is the right man for the job. I am not. But I don’t count, and neither do you. It’s not about winning the press conference in January. Rather, it’s about winning games come next season. That’s when we’ll begin to know for sure about this hire.

In the meantime, I’m going to remain objective – not subjective, and negative – and give it a chance. And you should, too.

Do we have a choice? No, but it’s the right thing – the tough thing, to be sure, but also the sane thing – to do.