Detroit Lions: Matthew Stafford isn’t going anywhere, yet …
By Robert Jones
Once again the Detroit Lions’ Matthew Stafford has been the subject of trade talk, but he’s still not going anywhere yet.
The Detroit Lions are once again struggling. At 1-3 head coach, Matt Patricia has these Motor City cats off to a slow start, and his seat continues to get hotter.
Is it just me or does being a Lions fan mean never-ending turmoil? Back in 2008, Rod Marinelli led the Lions to the NFL’s first 0-16 season, Jim Schwartz came in and elevated the team a little until his ego and Lionized breakdown caused the end of his tenure, then Jim Caldwell rode into town and proceeded to take the Lions to the playoffs in two of his four seasons.
But that wasn’t good enough for general manager Bob Quinn so he pulled the plug on Caldwell and brought in Matt Patricia. The rest we know all too well.
And that’s just the last 12 years of Detroit Lions football. We could continue to go back in time and find even more turmoil and ineptitude.
Yet the only constant over those last dozen seasons has been quarterback Matthew Stafford. He was the Lions consultation prize for that embarrassing 2008 campaign. He was the chosen one who would lead Detroit out of the ashes of mediocrity and on to their first championship since 1957.
Instead, well we all know how history has played out. Now I don’t bring this up to say that Matthew is the reason the Lions have continued to struggle. As a matter of fact, without Matthew, this franchise could have been much worse over these last dozen years.
Despite all the pratfalls and the Lions being the Lions, Matthew has carried this team to greater heights than they would have attained with any of the run of the mill passers this franchise has lined up under center since Hall of Famer Bobby Layne was sent packing.
While Matthew certainly hasn’t been perfect, it is way too much to ask him to single-handedly carry the Detroit Lions to a championship, since they are the NFL poster child for how not to run an NFL franchise. Mostly poor coaching, poor drafting, mediocre to bad defenses, and ineffective offensive lines are all together more than he can be expected to overcome.