Matt Patricia must keep the Detroit Lions focused to win

The Detroit Lions can’t focus on the win that got away – or even one that was taken from them. Consistency is key to becoming a winner.

The Detroit Lions had a win taken from them by the officials on Monday Night Football. It happened. It is unfair on so many levels. But it is time to move past it.

General manager Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia have started to build something here. And, yes, the results are what matter. And two straight losses is a tough pill to swallow because it looks like this team has not improved.

It is tough mostly because the Detroit Lions are a good team. And what has to happen is they need to become a great team.

On Tuesday’s Pro Football Talk Live, prolific NFL writer Peter King of NBC Sports talked about whether or not the Detroit Lions are a good team. His thoughts really summed up the Detroit Lions current plight quite well (10-15-19, “#3”):

"“I think they’re one of the most inconsistent, but promising teams in the NFL this year… They should have won the game [against Green Bay]. I’m not saying that game was not robbed away from them… They’re good enough to win, but they are not a great team.”"

This encapsulates everything that the Detroit Lions have been this year. The promise that they have shown is that they can compete with anybody. That may not mean a lot in a league of parity. But they certainly are not an awful team.

The inconsistency is the problem. And the biggest issue is that this team doesn’t know how to finish off their opponent. That is the difference between being good and being great.

This Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate how good this Lions team is. The game against Green Bay was taken from you. So, take it to the Vikings on Sunday.

If the Packer loss festers with this team, then they will never reach becoming a great team. The Detroit Lions must seize the opportunity in front of them by beating the Vikings. Don’t care about the final score – just get the win.

There could still be a playoff run in this team. But if they can’t beat the Vikings, then the playoffs might be out of reach before even reaching Thanksgiving.

Last year was filled with rants about lose more games and get a higher draft pick – a sentiment that I believe to be true for last year, but not for this one. Take what you have built, and keep improving. Even if (and this pains me) you end up just outside the playoffs with a lower first-round pick.

The rest of this season falls on Patricia’s shoulders. Not only must he keep the Detroit Lions focused on playing winning football, he must also keep developing the young talent on this roster.

Everything this year has to be about winning. This team may be stuck in that 6-8 win range, but every win matters. This season is about the details. It’s about continuing to change this culture.

For Quinn and Patricia, they have achieved the promise of better things to come. Make the rest of this year count towards taking the league by storm in the coming months, years, and hopefully the next decade of Lions football.

Don’t let bad calls define this team. Trust me, great teams have bad calls go against them. And when those teams inevitably win the game, no one remembers any call by the refs. Only who won.

You can cry like the New Orleans Saints did about last year’s NFC Championship game. But all that wailing did nothing to change the outcome. In the end, all the Saints can do is make another run this year.

And honestly, no one will remember what happened to Detroit this past week either. And that is mostly because they are not one of the elite franchises. So, become one of those franchises and don’t look back. Don’t whine. Win.