Firing Matt Patricia Prematurely Would Be a Huge Setback for the Lions
By Jon Poole
Matt Patricia is one and a half years into his attempt at overhauling the Detroit Lions, the worst franchise in sports history, and a lot of the fan base wants him fired already. While that could end up being the right move, it’s not the right move yet. Not even close.
When Matt Patricia took over the Lions, he took over a team that was plastered in makeup and masquerading it’s deceiving butter-face as a playoff contender under Jim Caldwell. Still, in all actuality, the Lions were just a punching bag for the teams in the league that were actually good and lived up to their record but had the quarterback to beat the bad teams.
The Lions did go 9-7 in 2017, but only one of those nine wins were against a team with a winning record, a divisional win over the Vikings. They laid down like beaten dogs and weren’t even competitive on road trips to New Orleans and Baltimore, while they were still very much in playoff contention. Then ultimately squandered away their playoff hopes losing to an even worse Cincinnati team in week 16.
Just in case you thought 2017 was a fluke, it was the same exact story in 2014 and 2016. In 2014 the Lions went 11-5, but Green Bay was the only win against a team over .500. In 2016 they went 9-7 with the 8-7-1 Redskins being the only team they beat with a winning record.