Detroit Lions: Jim Bob Cooter running out of time, excuses

After only one game, Detroit Lions‘ offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter’s seat is getting awfully warm. Is he running out of time in the Motor City?

The Detroit Lions have played and lost exactly one game in the 2018 season, and the pressure has already begun to mount on offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter.

The shine of the NFL’s most hilarious name has worn off over the last two seasons due to a lack of running game and a lack of play-calling originality. On top of that, the most recent criticism of Cooter includes total predictability, as the New York Jets’ defenders stated they were able to predict plays based on scouting formations and Matthew Stafford’s hand signals.

Of all the members of the Lions’ coaching staff, Cooter’s job security has to be the least secure. That seems like an odd claim when you consider he was the only coordinator retained from the last coaching regime. Regardless of who the Lions hired as their new head coach, the stipulation was that Cooter had to be the offensive coordinator.

He was the Golden Child, the Untouchable One.

The theory held by many fans was that Cooter’s creativity and dynamic playcalling was held back by the far-too-conservative approach of former head coach Jim Caldwell. Many assumed it was Caldwell who stunted the offense’s growth and Cooter’s success. With the shackles finally taken off under Matt Patricia, the expectation was the offense was prepared to finally come together.

Now that the 2018 season is upon us, Lions fans are faced with confronting the opposite reality. Perhaps Jim Bob Cooter is just not a great offensive coordinator.

Simply put, the Lions’ offense is running in place, and Cooter is running out of excuses.

The Lions are armed with Matthew Stafford, one of the top signal-callers in the NFL. They are loaded at the skill positions, with a trio of dangerous wide receivers and a quartet of talented running backs. The offensive line has been completely rebuilt over the last two years to protect Stafford and create running lanes. The rest of the offensive coaching staff was overhauled when Patricia was hired.

It’s time for results.

Retaining Jim Bob Cooter, given his solid working relationship with Stafford, was an admirable decision for the Lions to make for continuity’s sake. In doing so, they pushed all their chips to the middle of the table that Cooter can take the offense to the Promised Land.

It was a gamble that must pay off soon, or there will be a new vacancy in Motown.