Detroit Lions: How many wins does Matt Patricia need to save his job?

What will Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia be expected to achieve in 2020 to secure his job for the future?

Last December, the Detroit Lions ownership conducted a statement regarding the organizations’ management team. Martha Firestone Ford is expecting her Lions to be playing meaningful games during the second half of the regular season in 2020 if General Manager (GM) Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia hopes to remain with the franchise.

Now that wonderful term ‘meaningful games’ – what does it exactly mean? Does Martha expect that her Detroit Lions will suddenly go from a three-win team to ten overnight?

It’s hard to be negative when the season remains in limbo, plus it’s the offseason, so we try and stay as positive as possible. Still, sometimes we need to stop and take a look at the real picture and conduct a professional opinion.

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It would be wonderful to log on and read a bunch of articles about how the Detroit Lions are going to compete for the NFC North title, win a couple of playoff games and are poised to win a Super Bowl. That’s when you wake up from your wonderful dream. Aren’t you here to read content that describes where we are, with the hopes of building towards where we want to be?

The fact is, every team owner has aspirations of making the playoffs and being a Super Bowl contender.

Many will wave a finger and shriek to the fact injuries plagued the 2019 season, and that’s why the team finished the season with an embarrassing 3-12-1 record. However, the truth is, the team, although competitive, had still been losing football games with everyone healthy, yes, even Matthew Stafford.

What will Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia need to accomplish in 2020 to retain his job heading into the 2021 season?

Following back-to-back losing seasons since being plucked from the New England Patriots, Matt Patricia is hoping to ‘right the ship’ in 2020, and his job depends on it. Needless to say, Patricia’s pencil is wearing thin, there aren’t many more times to sharpen it before he reaches the eraser.

I go back to that term ‘meaningful games.’

The Lions front office will be able to convince Martha that a 7-9 season is a vast improvement from the year prior. The problem for Patricia comes when you run down the Detroit Lions 2020 schedule — it’s challenging to predict seven wins.

I come up with the magic number seven, reasonably quickly as the number of wins needed to secure Patricia’s job. In ’19 Detroit won a mere three games, that after six in his first season. Patricia inherited a team that produced back-to-back 9-7 seasons, but it was apparent the team had reached their full potential, so Quinn and Patricia started the teardown procedure. Now, it’s time to build things back up.

If Patricia finds a way to orchestrate a seven-win season his boss Quinn will be able to skip his way into Martha’s office with a smile and a tip of the cap and spew out how much the organization has improved from the year prior–that with a modified offseason due to COVID-19.

Quinn will be able to shovel a bunch of slop onto Martha’s plate, and she will eat it up. Quinn will mention that with a proper offseason program and another stellar draft, the Lions will be poised to make a legitimate run at the NFC Title in 2021. He may not be all wrong, but that’s not exactly what fans want to hear. Fans want positive results now; it’s year three of this GM/coach combo.

Next. It’s time to sign free agent Everson Griffen. dark

I believe six wins won’t be enough to save Patricia’s job, but with this organization, all bets are off.

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