The Detroit Lions were officially eliminated from any hope of playoff contention with yesterday’s Thanksgiving loss to the Chicago Bears at Ford Field. It marks the second straight year under head coach Matt Patricia that they won’t be a playoff team, and the third year in a row as a team.
Of course, former head coach Jim Caldwell was fired after 2017’s winning 9-7 record due to GM Bob Quinn saying it “wasn’t good enough”.
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Patricia’s seat has been growing hotter in the eyes of media and fans after the former defensive coordinator has failed to build a winning defense in the Motor City. Following yesterday’s loss, he explained that while a win would go a long way in his squad’s confidence, they’re still searching for that “it” factor.
“At some point we got to get one of those wins and build that confidence and feed off that confidence and go,” Patricia said. “That’s what a lot of teams do and that’s what the teams I’ve been around do, and we haven’t had that. We haven’t had that moment yet, and we’re still trying to search for it and get it.”
Despite being out of the playoffs once again, the players aren’t giving up on what’s left of the year.
“We still have four more games left,” safety Tracy Walker said. “We’re still going to go out there and compete and fight in all of those games, no matter if we can go to the playoffs or not.”
Their next game to find that “it” factor is next week’s visit against the divisional rival Minnesota Vikings.
