The week is not off to a great start for the Cleveland Browns as they prepare to play the Pittsburgh Steelers in a Super Wild Card game on Sunday at Heinz Field as the team announced Tuesday morning that their facility is now closed until further notice because of positive COVID-19 tests. These positive tests include head coach Kevin Stefanski and it means he will not be able to coach on Sunday against the Steelers.
Stefanski, who the team reports as testing positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, will now be required to go into quarantine and thus miss the Browns’ playoff game on Sunday at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. Browns special teams coordinator Mike Priefer will serve as the acting head coach. Browns offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt will likely take over play calling from Stefanski.
The Browns also announced on Tuesday that two other assistant coaches and two players have also tested positive for COVID-19, but they did not reveal the names of those individuals. We will surely find out who the players are by the end of Tuesday. According to reports, the other Browns coaches that tested positive are tight ends coach Drew Petzing and defensive backs coach Jeff Howard.
The Browns team facility is closed today. The Browns-Steelers game is still on as scheduled, per reports.
UPDATE (12:17 PM): The two players who have tested positive reportedly are OG Joel Bitonio and WR KhaDarel Hodge. Bitonio has served as the team’s starting left guard all season. Hodge caught 11 passes in the regular season.
