Detroit Lions: Commit to winning, No more half measures

COMMIT TO WINNING

One of the more interesting tidbits from Monday’s “The Herd” was an interview with former New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe. When asked about how the Patriots keep finding ways to win, Bledsoe said the following:

"“Their system… it’s about teaching football. You know Dante Scarnecchia, their offensive line coach for all these years is a guy that should go into the Hall of Fame … Because you watch their offensive line play, they continue to get better through the course of the year, every season. They’re playing their best football at the end of the season. Giving Tom (Brady) time.”"

Teaching football and getting the most out of these players is probably what Matt Patricia would like to do. Over the years, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has built a staff that is very good at doing this. Even as the team loses players to injury, free agency or just flat-out cuts them, the next man slides right in and plays at a championship level.

Bledsoe had one closing thought on whether or not other teams – like the Detroit Lions – can have the same kind of success as the Patriots:

"“It is possible to replicate. But it has to be built through the whole organization.”"

When general manager Bob Quinn was hired, he was forced to keep head coach Jim Caldwell and staff in place. Is this the right way to start off a new general manager? If things were bad, then why not start the Quinn era with a new coaching staff?

Finally, after two years, Quinn fires Caldwell. But then he does a similar thing to Patricia by forcing his new head man to keep coaches from the previous staff. Now, Patricia was hired late in the process (because the Patriots play all the way until the final game), so that could play a role in the decision. But why saddle Patricia with the previous regime? A regime that clearly wasn’t working.

So, the Patricia era starts much like the Quinn era: burdened with previous hires.