Detroit Lions: Exorcising 60 years of lousy football isn’t easy
By Robert Jones
The real issue now is simply if Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia can turn this thing around. We’re already in year three of the Quinn administration and this is Matt Patricia’s maiden voyage as a head coach on any level.
And this ship is taking on water at a terminal pace.
Bob Quinn’s approval rating in this city was off the charts as the season prepared to kick-off. Now… well, I’m not sure the fans have completely given up on him, but he is now definitely tied at the hip to Patricia’s success or failure.
Now as we try to wade through all the nonsense of whether this was or wasn’t a playoff team Patricia inherited, let’s be honest; Bob Quinn spent his first two years stocking the roster with players that fit Jim Caldwell’s system.
That’s called doing your job as a general manager. Giving your coach what he believes the team needs to win. The problem is this, the change to Matt Patricia’s system was more dramatic than either Quinn or Patricia expected.
After all the offseason film study, they obviously didn’t come to the conclusion that virtually none of the players in the Lions front seven from last season would fit into Patricia’s system. That was evident in how little they pursued defensive linemen in the offseason.
RELATED PRODUCT
Detroit Lions Circo Cheese Board & Tool Set
Buy Now!
Buy Now!
But once the exhibition season revealed how inept the players were, they basically cut everyone they could and started signing players off the waiver wire.
Yeah, the Romeo Okwara signing was a good one and the Ricky Jean-Francoise signing in training camp wasn’t bad. But they need more help up front and not just on the defensive line.
Devon Kennard has done well as an edge rusher and Eli Harold contributed early to the pass-rush but seems to have gone into the witness relocation program over the last few weeks. Christian Jones hasn’t had much impact and the biggest disappointment of all would have to be middle linebacker, Jarrad Davis. Instead of the break-out year we expected, he has been inconsistent.
Just like the offense, which we touched on earlier.
This next offseason will be a busy one as the Lions try to find as many players as they can which will actually fit this system and make a difference on the field.
A difference we are not seeing this season.
Nothing worthwhile is easy. Changing 60 years of lousy football can’t be done as quickly and easily as it could in other NFL cities. The aura, or perhaps we should say ‘stench’, of losing has clogged the air in Detroit so badly, that turning this team around could never be easy.