The Detroit Lions have one game remaining on their schedule for the 2020 campaign when they host the division rival Minnesota Vikings this weekend. What happens next remains up in the air.
Shortly after interim head coach Darrell Bevell virtually met with media members this afternoon, defensive coordinator Cory Undlin did the same. Undlin, along with Bevell and several other members of the coaching staff, weren’t on hand for Detroit’s blowout loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past Saturday due to COVID-19 protocols.
“We found out someone tested positive, and I was told I was deemed high risk and that I’d be out of the building for five days,” he said. “We’re all aware of the fact that this thing isn’t good – there was a little concern like ‘I hope I don’t have it'”. It’s not a good situation and I hope I’m never in it again.”
Needless to say, it wasn’t a pleasant experience for Undlin watching the debacle on television.
“I watched it from my house – paced around my kitchen island for about 3 hours, not good,” he said. “It is what it is.”
Undlin was asked to give an overview of the season and of his performance leading the team defense. He stated that a discussion of that topic alone could take up to three hours, but he settled for a concise summary.
“We’ve won five games, not good enough,” he lamented. “At the end of the day, I’ll take all that on me. Crazy year, not going to come up with any excuses. We weren’t good enough. I could probably go around and around and come up with a bunch of different scenarios, but at the end of the day it didn’t. I was put in the position of running the defense and didn’t do enough of a good job.”
“We’ve got one game left and we’re going to go out and fight as hard as we possibly can.”
With one game remaining on the schedule, the Lions are on the verge of allowing the most points and yards per game in franchise history after giving up nearly 600 on Saturday. However, those aren’t the numbers that Undlin is chiefly concerned with.
“I would say I want nothing to do with those records, but there’s only one stat I care about – games won. It’s our job,” he said. “We won three last year, we won five this year, and that’s not enough….I’m not a stat guy.”
When asked what he expects to happen during the offseason, Undlin admitted that poor records usually result in coaches losing their jobs, as Matt Patricia found out earlier this year. However, Undlin will deal with whatever happens when the decisions are made.
“I’ve no idea what’s going to happen at the end of the season, but we all know how this business works,” he said. “I’m not assuming that people are getting fired, I don’t know that. But I’ve seen it happen before, and we’ll all deal with that accordingly when those decisions are made.”
The Lions and Vikings will kick-off at Ford Field on Sunday shortly after 1:00 PM EST.
