The Cleveland Browns are drowning. Sitting at a dismal two wins and seven losses, their playoff hopes are not just distant; they are a statistical impossibility, dead and buried before the Thanksgiving turkeys have even been bought. The offense is a lifeless, sputtering engine going nowhere fast, and the patience of the famously loyal fanbase has finally snapped. They are beyond frustrated; they are furious.

At the center of this implosion is a baffling, almost surreal quarterback controversy that pits stubborn loyalty against desperate curiosity. On one side stands head coach Kevin Stefanski, clinging to third-round pick Dylan Gabriel with a tenacity that now looks less like sound coaching and more like a stubborn refusal to admit a colossal mistake. On the other, sitting on the bench, is the tantalizing “what if”: Shedeur Sanders, the son of NFL legend Deion Sanders, a player many believed was a first-round talent who inexplicably slid to the fifth.

This Sunday, as the Browns prepare to host Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens, the situation is set to explode. The stadium will be a pressure cooker, and Stefanski’s every move will be scrutinized. Because this is no longer just about one game. It’s about a failed season, a coach almost certainly on his way out, and an organization being forced to find out what it has in Sanders before a franchise-altering offseason.

The case against Dylan Gabriel is not a quiet one; it’s a mountain of damning evidence. The third-round pick was handed the starting job, and he hasn’t just struggled; he has fundamentally failed. We aren’t talking about the nuances of complex defensive schemes. We’re talking about a catastrophic failure to execute the basics of the position: poor decision-making, chronically inaccurate throws on simple routes, and a complete inability to read defenses. He looks tentative, uncomfortable, and utterly unequipped for the professional level. For a fanbase that has endured a painful history of quarterback busts—from Tim Couch to Johnny Manziel—they know a failed experiment when they see one.

What makes this weekly display of incompetence so maddening is the presence of Sanders. Here is a quarterback who dominated at the college level, putting up incredible numbers at both Jackson State and Colorado. He’s a player with NFL pedigree literally in his veins, praised by scouts for his quick release, poise, and leadership. Yet, since being drafted, Stefanski has treated him not as a prospect to be developed, but as an emergency-glass-to-be-broken-only-in-case-of-absolute-armageddon.

The timeline of this mismanagement is baffling. Before the preseason, Kenny Pickett, who was supposed to be part of the competition, left the team. This was the logical moment to elevate Sanders and see what he could do. Stefanski stuck with Gabriel. In Week 5, the team released veteran Joe Flacco, who had provided a spark just last season. Again, this was a clear opportunity to promote Sanders to the backup role and integrate him into the game plan. Again, Stefanski doubled down on Gabriel.

Now, Sanders sits as the backup, technically next in line but treated as if he’s a world away from seeing meaningful snaps. This stubbornness has created a disconnect that is rapidly turning toxic. The fans see it clearly. Other teams give young quarterbacks chances to sink or swim, to learn through experience. The Browns are going nowhere, the season is lost, and they are screaming from the rooftops: “What do you have to lose? Find out what you have in Shedeur Sanders!”

This Sunday’s game against the Ravens is the flashpoint. The Browns will be heavy underdogs in their own building. If—or, more likely, when—Gabriel comes out and the offense sputters, stalls, and produces another series of three-and-outs, that stadium will turn hostile. The chants for Sanders, which have been growing for weeks, will become a deafening roar that Stefanski cannot ignore.

The pressure isn’t just coming from the stands. Respected CBS Sports insider Jonathan Jones, who has his finger on the pulse of the league, has laid the situation bare. He stated there is an “extremely high chance, actually a 100% chance” that Sanders will see game action this season. He went even further, predicting with “100% certainty” that Sanders would start a game before the season ends.

His reasoning is simple and impossible to argue: “Just look at the schedule, look at the record… This season is already lost”. The team must evaluate Sanders before next year’s draft.

This leads to the uncomfortable truth that is the talk of the league: Kevin Stefanski is almost certainly coaching his final games in Cleveland. After a disastrous 3-14 finish in 2024, this season is trending in the exact same direction. The offense is anemic, the team lacks an identity, and owner Jimmy Haslam, who is famously impatient with coaches, is undoubtedly planning a complete organizational reset.

This reset is precisely why playing Sanders is no longer a choice, but a mandate. The Browns are in the enviable position of holding two first-round picks in the upcoming NFL draft. That is franchise-transforming capital. But you cannot build a house without knowing if you have a foundation. The front office—and likely, the next head coach—needs to know what Shedeur Sanders is.

Is he the franchise quarterback you can build around, allowing you to use those picks on an offensive lineman and a star receiver? Is he a capable, but not elite, starter, meaning you still build around him but with a different strategy? Or is he, too, not the answer, meaning one of those precious first-round picks must be spent on yet another quarterback? The only way to get those answers is to play him. To continue to keep him on the bench is organizational malpractice.

Some speculate Stefanski’s reluctance is rooted in self-preservation. If he plays Sanders and the rookie looks good, it immediately begs the question of why he waited so long, making the coach look either incompetent or spiteful. It’s a cynical view, but in the cutthroat world of the NFL, it’s a plausible one.

For his part, Sanders has been a model of professionalism. He hasn’t complained publicly, hasn’t demanded a trade, and has by all accounts prepared every day as if he were the starter. That quiet maturity only makes the decision to keep him benched more perplexing.

The final games of this lost season are no longer about winning. They are an open audition, a fact-finding mission for the future of the franchise. The playoffs are a fantasy. The current plan has failed. The national media has seized the narrative, painting a picture of a stubborn coach defying logic.

The conclusion feels inevitable. At some point—perhaps this Sunday when the boos rain down, or perhaps the following week—Kevin Stefanski will have no choice but to make the switch. When that moment comes, it will be one of the most anticipated quarterback debuts in Cleveland’s recent history. Not because Sanders is a guaranteed savior, but because the alternative has been so profoundly disappointing, and the curiosity is so intense. The fans are starving for hope, for something new, for a reason to believe.

Maybe Shedeur Sanders is the answer, a diamond in the rough who fell to the fifth round. Or maybe he isn’t, and the Browns are back to square one. Either way, the time for speculation is over. The time for answers is now. The organization needs it, the fans deserve it, and the future of the franchise depends on it.