The Detroit Lions are about to close out another disappointing season, but the question moving forward is; can Matthew Stafford be salvaged?
The Detroit Lions are once again humbly preparing their recliners for the postseason so they can watch it like the rest of us. Pretty much the way they do almost every year. Head coach Matt Patricia’s maiden voyage as the top dog on the sidelines has not gone the way either he nor general manager Bob Quinn envisioned it.
It has been a struggle at every turn and it seems that everything that could possibly go wrong has. The offense, the defense, and even special teams have all had their turn to wear the cone of shame. If not outright share it most weeks.
The season started off with the concern that Patricia might have lost his locker room right from the get-go as his workout regiment was more strenuous than that of his predecessor Jim Caldwell.
No facet of the team had made any progress during the preseason and when the curtain rose for the Lions on Monday Night Football against the New York Jets and their rookie quarterback, the humiliation only continued.
Several injuries, a key trade and many players not stepping up or developing as expected have been the tale of this season’s disappointing implosion. Many of the pundits in the media have pontificated about whether Matt Patricia had bitten off more than he can chew as the Detroit Lions head coach.
This was not only his first opportunity as a head coach in the NFL but his first opportunity as a head coach on any level. Now there are the reports from an anonymous former Lions player that Matt Patricia was consistently late to team meetings.
There are very few who are able to step into the shoes of being a head coach without bumps in the road. Mistakes happen and they either learn from it or lose their jobs. But Patricia isn’t the only one who has been under fire.
Possibly the only one who has felt more wrath from the fans than Matt Patricia has been quarterback Matthew Stafford.