Detroit Lions: Darrell Bevell hire comes a year too late

PLENTY OF BLAME

Was there a struggle between Patricia and Cooter in terms of this team’s offensive identity? Twentyman spoke of Patricia wanting to run the ball, and wanting adaptability in the offensive game plan. What if Jim Bob couldn’t fit with that type of run-heavy philosophy?

If Cooter and Patricia weren’t on the same page, then this problem falls in the lap of the general manager. Quinn is the one that kept Jim Bob for another year, instead of firing the entire 2017 staff. Like Quinn was saddled with head coach Jim Caldwell for two years, he made sure that history repeated itself and saddled Patricia with Cooter.

It is hard to understand why this franchise is constantly trying to make incompatible pieces fit together. Patricia is a defensive guy. And the last off season (draft and free agency) was spent trying to rebuild the running game. Yet, Cooter is very much a ‘throw it 45 times’ and ‘spread the field’ type of coordinator.

Why put these two guys together? It is just another example of this team not fully committing to winning. If the reason is that Stafford likes Cooter, well then that is just too damn bad. The coordinator has to fit the philosophy of the head coach.

This Bevell hire might be the right step towards winning. But why do these steps always come a year late? Why can’t the Detroit Lions be ahead of the curve? Instead of behind it?

That’s the thing this franchise has always lacked: foresight. I would like to believe that Quinn and Patricia can right that ship. But those early decisions on Caldwell and Cooter show a mentality of elevating secondary concerns – money, likeability, ego, whatever. The only concern should be winning.