The Detroit Lions can do better than Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia

The right people will get it right if allowed to

The long and short of it is that the Lions can succeed with Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia if they become more open-minded about how they do business. They need to be more willing to take a chance on talent instead of pulling the ‘holier than thou’ bit when a player doesn’t have a squeaky-clean past. Sometimes those risks pay off in a big way.

But no matter how talented the players they acquire are, the coaches have to get the most out of them on the field. The Lions defense this year, despite all the players that Bob Quinn brought in who were ‘perfect’ for this defense, was pathetic and absolutely under-achieved.

Who Matt Patricia brings in to run the defense, if allowed to, will probably be the biggest factor in the equation of how the Lions do next year.

If he finds another ‘Patriot Way’ disciple, then it will most likely be curtains for the Lions before the season has even begun. But even if he brings in someone who is willing to work with Patricia’s defense, but is allowed to add a few twists of his own, especially some aggressive twists that could help the defense be more proactive and ‘attacking’ rather than ‘bend but don’t break’ reactive, maybe, just maybe there might be hope.

However, regardless of Bob Quinn acquisitions and Matt Patricia hirings and any possible hope there may be, there are absolutely talented front office personnel and coaches out there that could turnaround this franchise if the Ford family were able to identify them, with or without league help, and give them the opportunity to blossom in the Motor City.

That means allowing them to do what makes them promising and not throwing down some mandates on how the Ford’s want things done. The Ford way hasn’t worked for 60 years, and finding those talented people who can turn this franchise around will only work if they are allowed to do it their way. Not the Ford way.

Next season will still belong to Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia. If they can get it right, then more power to them. Lions fans don’t care who makes this team winners, they only care that they finally win. But if they can’t fix this mess, then Martha needs to call the league for more advice because the right general manager and head coach are out there and can turn this franchise around, if allowed to.