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Detroit Lions: 4 things to still look forward to this season

By Payne Schanski

DETROIT, MI - SEPTEMBER 15: Kenny Golladay #19 of the Detroit Lions celebrates a reception during the fourth quarter of the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Ford Field on September 15, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit defeated Los Angeles 10-13. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI - SEPTEMBER 15: Kenny Golladay #19 of the Detroit Lions celebrates a reception during the fourth quarter of the game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Ford Field on September 15, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. Detroit defeated Los Angeles 10-13. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images) /
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Matt Patricia, Detroit Lions
Matt Patricia, Detroit Lions (Photo by Rey Del Rio/Getty Images) /

Week 17: Matt Patricia’s final game as an NFL head coach?

I’m not saying this to rag on Patricia, it’s more a byproduct of the Lions’ curse than anything. Even so, if he’s let go by the Fords at the end of the season (my gut feeling is that they keep him), the odds of him ever getting another head coaching job in the NFL are astronomically low.

Out of the last 18 Lions head coaches, dating back 55 years, 17 of them never coached another game in the league as the head man once their time in Detroit was up. Even the lone exception, Dick Jauron, deserves a massive asterisk* of his own.

Here’s the part where I rag on Patricia: maybe he’s really still in “rebuild mode”, and “that last inch” will sort itself out in a big way next year. That’s for Martha Ford and Bob Quinn to decide.

In the second and final year of the Marty Mohrninweg experiment, the Lions lost their final eight games after being sort-of-okayish for the first half of the season. If year two of Matt Patricia indeed ends with nine straight L’s, as it’s trending towards, what reason could there possibly be to give him the benefit of the doubt for a turnaround in 2020?

Next. The slightly too early Detroit Lions All-Decade defense. dark

*Jauron was the interim head coach for the last five games of 2005 when Steve Mariucci was fired midseason, going 1-4 and getting out of Dodge (I mean Ford) as soon as he could.

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