Detroit Lions beat writer Kyle Meinke is at the center of all things Lions, so who would have a better brain to pick regarding the futures of two important fixtures with the team?
Meinke took questions from his weekly fan mailbag – and it’s no surprise a common theme seems to be his thoughts on the futures of general manager Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia. Check out what he had to say on the subject:
Q: Are Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia on the hot seat? — Garrett O’Connor
A: “I’ve sort of addressed this in previous mailbags, but still got this question a lot this week. Six losses in seven games from a team that said it could compete for a division title last year will do that, I guess. And it’s not just that Detroit (3-6-1) has lost twice as much as it has won, but how it has done it. Namely, with some of the worst defense in the history of the franchise — nearly two years after hiring a defensive-minded coach.
Matt Patricia was billed as a guy who could build out a team capable of complementing Matthew Stafford was great defense and a running game. And a year later, they weren’t even .500 with Stafford playing at an MVP-like level. That’s an unmitigated failure.
Bob Quinn said 9-7 is no longer good enough, and make no mistake, he’d be the first person to tell you 3-6-1 is not good enough either. Clearly, the Lions are off-schedule. This hasn’t gone as planned, and I suspect we’ll see some serious change in personnel and perhaps coaching as well. But the question at hand is, what about Quinn and Matt Patricia?
It’s to soon to say. Perhaps losing out, for example, tips the scales against them. Some ugly football on Thanksgiving against a terrible Bears team piloted by a terrible quarterback — who is on a two-game winning streak against Detroit, by the way — certainly wouldn’t help their case.
Ultimately, though, I think they’re both back next year.
That’s not to say it’s been good enough. Nobody is defending this, and Quinn and Patricia won’t either. But I believe the Fords will be reticent to pull the trigger on a second coaching change in as many years. And if Patricia is back, so is the man who hired him.
Constant upheaval is how teams live forever in mediocrity. For every Matt LaFleur, who is 8-2 in his debut season in Green Bay, there’s a Freddie Kitchens, who has parlayed legitimate Super Bowl hopes into a 4-6 start in Cleveland. And he has the second-best record among the eight first-year coaches! Only LaFleur has a winning record, and they combine for a 26-54 record overall this season.”
