Lions season-ending report cards: Defense, special teams, coaching

Coaching/Management

Matt Patricia was brought in as head coach in 2018 to install his New England Patriots pedigree and help lift an above-average team to the next level. By 2020, he had driven the Lions into the ground, ironically with his trademark defensive scheme looking particularly inept.

Though the last five results of the year after he was fired won’t go on his record, this was Patricia’s team, his scheme, his vision. That vision led the Lions to franchise records for most points and yards surrendered in a season, marks that surpassed those posted by the winless 2008 squad. Yikes.

The Lions blew double-digit leads in three of their first four games, leaving them in an insurmountable 1-3 hole in the standings entering their bye week. They won just one divisional game and did not beat a team that finished with a winning record. They suffered their first shutout loss since 2009. They surrendered 35 or more points seven times. Woof.

Patricia had no answers, as evidenced by his repetitive “Have to coach better, have to play better, have to work on the fundamentals” refrain from many post-game press conferences. It just didn’t work.

Though he went just 1-4, interim head coach Darrell Bevell deserves credit for helping the Lions notch their first divisional win since 2018 in his first game at the helm, when they squeaked out a victory over the Chicago Bears in Week 13.

As a play-caller, he is still a master at scripting early offensive game plans, but too often he was unable to sustain that momentum later in games. This factored into the Lions struggling to hold leads. It seems like a long shot but it remains a possibility that he is kept on as head coach.

It’s unclear how much of an influence defensive coordinator Cory Undlin had on that side of the ball, with Patricia’s imprint all over it. Regardless, he did little to distinguish himself this season and won’t be back. Coombs’ late season dismissal was surprising and troubling but spoke to Bevell’s leadership and no-nonsense approach.

It seems unjust to judge a general manager on just one season, though Bob Quinn’s decisions from just this past offseason alone may have been grounds for his removal. Though he signed left tackle Taylor Decker to a very reasonable contract extension, his other financial commitments and stubborn reliance on former New England Patriots turned out to be major miscalculations.

Quinn, who was fired along with Patricia on November 28th, shelled out free agent contracts totaling over $60 million in guaranteed money to Nick Williams, Desmond Trufant, Danny Shelton, Jamie Collins, and Halapoulivaati Vaitai with negligible results. You don’t build a winner that way.

Additionally, his draft choices were largely underwhelming, with minimal contributions from this year’s rookie class aside from tailback D’Andre Swift. In five drafts, Quinn somehow failed to select a single defensive playmaker. That could change if this year’s group makes progress, but he won’t be around to see it.

Ultimately, Quinn’s biggest gaffe was hiring his old buddy Patricia to steer the ship. Their shared goal of incorporating the successful practices learned from their time with the Patriots never came close to fulfillment. Although the decision was made to hire Patricia two years ago, Quinn couldn’t do enough this year to save his job, or Patricia’s.

The Lions’ staff all deserve their due for dealing with difficult circumstances while they and the NFL navigated the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Lions had a few close calls and were forced to play in Week 16 without the majority of their coaching staff, but they played all 16 games without postponements while doing their best to observe the league’s health and safety protocols.

Grade: F