While it is not the first time in NFL history by any means that an NFL team will be without its head coach for a game—most notably, the Indianapolis Colts did without Chuck Pagano a number of years ago after he was diagnosed with cancer, and Bruce Arians took over head coaching duties on an interim basis—but the Cleveland Browns’ absence of Kevin Stefanski is the first instance of a head coach missing a game due to Covid-19.
Naturally, it comes as the organization is preparing for its first postseason game in 18 years, prior to which they have already had multiple players and coaches test positive for Covid-19 and had multiple starts on offense pulled over for drag racing.