Coaches have been trying to teach Jameis Winston to be more careful about where he throws the football ever since he was selected by the Buccaneers with the first pick of the 2015 draft. It isn’t that Winston is uncoachable, stubborn or won’t listen. He is just the opposite of that. Coaches like working with him, and teammates love having him on their side. Yet on game day, Winston sometimes makes decisions that make it difficult to believe he is in his 10th NFL season. Winston has so much natural talent as a pass thrower that good coaches always believe they can coach the bad Jameis out of the good Jameis. Winston has thrown 154 career touchdown passes and 111 career interceptions with the Buccaneers, Saints and Browns. “You certainly are playing a position where you’re making decisions 70 times a game,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said during a Zoom call Dec. 16 in response to a question about coaching quarterbacks in general, not Winston specifically.  “You have to trust what you see. You have to trust in your technique. “And, certainly, we know that a big part of winning and losing in football is taking care of the ball. We get that. We also know that you have to play a style of football that gives yourself a chance to make yards. So, there are times that you’re aggressive. There are times that you’re not, based on what the situation is, maybe based on what the route concept is and those types of things.” Winston threw three picks Dec. 15 when the Chiefs beat the Browns, 21-7, at Huntington Bank Field. The first, thrown on first down from the Chiefs’ 36, was intended for Elijah Moore in the end zone. Two Kansas City defenders were on Moore. Safety Bryan Cook intercepted the pass. The second interception glanced off Nick Chubb’s hands on the first play of the third quarter. The third was thrown from the Chiefs’ 29 early in the fourth quarter and intended for Michael Woods in the back right corner of the end zone. A touchdown pass at that point would have sliced the Kansas City lead to 21-14 with 13:11 to play. Instead, cornerback Trent McDuffie made the interception. Stefanski benched Winston and turned to second-year quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson. Winston had two other three-interception games in his previous six starts with the Browns, but Stefanski didn’t bench him before the Kansas City game. Dorian Thompson-Robinson scrambles Oct. 20 against the Bengals. (Tim Phillis – For The News-Herald) Stefanski in the moments after the loss to the Chiefs did not name his starting quarterback for the game with the Bengals on Dec. 22 in Cincinnati. Nothing changed a day later during the Zoom call with reporters covering the Browns. “We’re still putting this game to bed, so anything related to Cincinnati I’ll update you guys as we get into the week,” Stefanski said. Winston threw three touchdown passes and no interceptions in his first start after replacing injured Deshaun Watson (ruptured right Achilles) to lead a stunning 29-24 upset of the Ravens on Oct. 27. He rushed for a touchdown and threw an interception when the Browns beat the Steelers in a blizzard at Huntington Bank Field on Nov. 21. He set a franchise record of 497 passing yards and threw four touchdown passes in Denver prior to beating the Steelers, but the Broncos picked him three times and returned two for touchdowns in a 41-32 Denver victory. Winston seemed stunned about being pulled from the Chiefs’ game. He did not protest, but he was stunned. “It’s required for the quarterback to protect the football to give your team a chance to win,” Winston said after the game. “The leadership decided that my time was up.” Winston is on a one-year contract. He might be playing himself out of any chance of being re-signed by the Browns for next year. Thompson-Robinson will still be under his rookie contract in 2025 and 2026. But Stefanski said he won’t use these last three games as a testing ground for next year. “My focus, whether it’s the quarterback position, really any position, is constantly trying to do what I feel like is best for the team right now, for this week, for Cincinnati,” Stefanski said. “That’s really where our focus is.” After playing the Bengals, the Browns (3-11) host the Dolphins on Dec. 29 then finish the season in Baltimore against the Ravens on Jan. 5. Browns at Bengals When: 1 p.m. Dec. 22 Where: Paycor Stadium, Cincinnati Records: Browns 3-11, 6-8 TV: WJW Radio: WKRK-FM 92.3, WNCX-FM 98.5, WKNR-AM 850, WKKY-FM 104.7