Matthew Stafford, Matt Patricia have plenty of fans outside of Detroit

Matt Patricia was New England’s fast-rising star defensive coordinator. His name started to be bandied about on the head coaching circuit two years ago. While no one took the plunge with him then, it was a foregone conclusion he would be given an opportunity before long.

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Last offseason he was one of the hottest names on the market, but the majority of teams searching for a new head coach weren’t willing to wait until after the Super Bowl. The exceptions would be the Detroit Lions and New York Giants, both of whom Patricia was linked to.

As we all know Patricia chose the Lions over the Giants, which immediately led many to wonder what was wrong with Patricia.

As a matter of fact, Colin Cowherd of Fox Sports Radio gave his opinion about every new coaching hire. In essence, he believed all of them could succeed except Matt Patricia.

I have often wondered since then if his opinion would have been the same had he accepted the Giants offer.

Nevertheless, the Lions didn’t come close to meeting expectations and now there are many Lions fans jumping on the Cowherd bandwagon that Patricia can’t get it done. However, there are some who disagree.

Bill Belichick was asked about Patricia’s lack of success this year and while it was clearly not the subject of his focus this week, Belichick still spoke highly of his former defensive coordinator. Here’s what the Patriots’ longtime head coach told NESN.com.

"“Yeah, no, I’m here to talk about the Patriots and the Rams. And that’s what our job is this week is to get ready for the Rams. I think Matt’s a great coach, and he does a great job. He did a great job for me. He’s very smart and understands football. He’s an excellent teacher, but really I’m here to talk about the Rams.”"

Former Patriots linebacker and now NFL Network analyst, Willie McGinest also gave his opinion on his former coach. After pointing out how it takes time to install a system and build a winning culture, he added why he thinks Matt Patricia will succeed. Here’s what McGinest told DetroitLions.com.

"“Patricia is a great coach. I like the fact that he’s doing it his way. He’s not trying to be Belichick or all those other coaches. I like the fact that he’s taken everything he’s learned and he’s doing it his way, but it takes time. You have to break things down before you build it up.”"

The truth of the matter is that plenty of successful coaches needed time before they turned their teams into winners. Some of the misconceptions that the press likes to propagate are more to make headlines than to consider the circumstances in a fair and rational manner.

But Patricia can’t make the Lions contenders on his own…