The Detroit Lions have underachieved in a season of high expectation, but who should the blame be pinned on; Matt Patricia or Matthew Stafford?
The clock is ticking down on the Detroit Lions season despite the assurances that they are still mathematically alive for the playoffs at the moment.
But let’s be honest, the season is over, there will be no playoffs and the tired old refrain of wait until next year is already ringing throughout Detroit and wherever else Lions fans may be licking their wounds.
Because of expectations raising so high after the Matt Patricia hiring, this season has seemed extra brutal to Lions fans everywhere. It has made former head coach Jim Caldwell almost look like Vince Lombardi by comparison.
Almost…
Yet that phrase right there sums up the problems that have beset this franchise for the last 60 years. Mediocrity has become the Lions standard to measure up to.
Have a winning season and the fans here will celebrate the way other cities like Boston, Pittsburgh, Dallas or San Francisco have celebrated championships. The bar is not high in Detroit. As a matter of fact, a mouse would have great difficulty walking under it on all four feet.
So the fact that the Lions will add another disappointing season to their history books really isn’t that much of a surprise if we consider this rationally. But because of those raised expectations, Lions fans are actually reacting like fans in other normal NFL cities react when their team stinks; they’re angry and want to find a scapegoat to hang for it.
All that’s left is to form a posse, grab your torch and pitchforks and gather at Ford Field. It’s time for some vigilante justice!
Yet it’s not that simple. The defense was putrid early on and the offense continues to dry up weekly. Finding a single scapegoat is not really feasible to be honest because this team has won a few games as a team and coaching staff, while they lost the rest as a team and coaching staff.
So the closest we can come to marking someone as the scapegoat is to decide between the two people on the hottest seats right now; Matt Patricia or Matthew Stafford.