Thanks to an embarrassing loss to the previously 1-9 Washington Redskins, the Detroit Lions may currently be at a low they have not been at since their 0-16 season.
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Following Sunday’s loss, Yahoo! columnist Dan Wetzel wrote a very good piece that primarily called out Lions’ ownership for never holding anyone to a high standard, with the exception of former head coach Jim Caldwell, who they fired after back-to-back 9-7 seasons.
From Yahoo!:
Less than two years ago, Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn announced the firing of coach Jim Caldwell. Quinn’s reasoning was that Caldwell wasn’t delivering enough victories and the Lions were stalled out as good, but not great.
“I think we have more than a competitive team to be competing for championships,” Quinn said. “… At the end of the day, it’s wanting to take this team to the next level … To me, that’s winning championships, that’s winning playoff games and that’s winning the Super Bowl.”
Bold talk. Unapologetic talk.
This is the NFL, not Pop Warner, so demanding more, especially of a franchise that hasn’t achieved anything for decades and was in the prime of quarterback Matthew Stafford, was almost a breath of fresh air.
Caldwell’s record in Detroit? It was 36-28, with two playoff appearances. He’d just put together consecutive 9-7 seasons.
That wasn’t good enough for the new-look Lions. OK, then. Go big.
Quinn, who arrived from the front office of New England in 2016, brought Matt Patricia, another Patriots product, to Detroit to deliver that proverbial “next level” that Caldwell couldn’t.
So what now? What does Detroit do after the Lions fell Sunday to hapless Washington 19-16 and ran their record to a pathetic 3-7-1?
Last year, Patricia took those 9-7 Caldwell teams and led them to 6-10. Six wins would feel like a miracle this year. The bearded, pencil-in-the-ear coach is now 9-17-1 overall and going nowhere fast.
“I think for me, I absolutely hate losing, I’m a super competitive person,” Patricia said Sunday. “It gets me.”
To read the rest of Wetzel’s column, which you absolutely should, please click here.
