After stepping in a pile of clock mismanagement to finish quarter No. 2 in Cincinnati Sunday, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski — who many believe to be on the verge of getting canned — poured what one would expect to be his best effort into the second half vs. the Bengals.

Upon forcing Cincy to punt on the first possession of the third quarter, the Browns orchestrated their most effective drive of the game. Was what they did enough to rewrite the fortunes of their sideline superintendent?

Dorian Thompson-Robinson started at quarterback for the first time this season, and through two quarters he was 3-6 for 15 yards. But coming out of halftime he started on a 5-7 tear including a 12-yarder on 3rd-and-6 where he found the escape hatch as the pocket was collapsing, pulled the ejection seat and made a dangerous throw back across his body that running back Jerome Ford made a play on and came down with.

One of his two incompletions on the drive was a drop by rookie receiver Jamari Thrash. He went 4-4 to tight end David Njoku for 44 yards, including a perfectly timed screen pass where the Bengals brought pressure by overloading the right side of the O-line; DTR replaced the blitzers with the throw and Njoku rumbled for 29, keeping both arms on the ball through the tackle.

Dustin Hopkins, whose kicking duties were given to Riley Patterson last week, topped off the Browns’ only competent drive by missing the extra point. And the rest of the game was an exercise in impuissance and relative pointlessness.

The television viewership, along with those who made the trek down to the Ohio River, could’ve just as easily spent the rest of the afternoon watching a dirt farmer plow sand. Cleveland gave up another score and lost 24-6.

So did Stefanski save his job with that performance? No. The only conclusion that can be drawn — given that he hasn’t been fired — is that there’s no momentum building from organizational decision-makers to push him out.

If they were to do so, what would the next steps be? We’re on top of that here, in Part 9.

—@PoisonPill4