Hello friends! It’s been a pretty long time since I’ve done one of these, but I thought it would be fun to throw some thoughts together on the Lions and connect with you once again. I sincerely hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!
Well, it was another debacle at Ford Field this week. Everyone from fans to media is in universal agreement that Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn need to go. Mercifully, it seems to be a question of when and not if. There’s probably not much point in reviewing what went wrong, but in the spirit of Festivus, I do want to highlight a few things to air some grievances and talk a little bit about what has gone wrong over the last 3 seasons and what's next.
Awful Coaching
We were led to believe that Patricia would have a gameplan each week that was specific to that week’s opponent, but it has just looked like the same garbage over and over. On defense, we saw a “bend but don’t break” philosophy that seemed to be like wishing the other team would eventually make a mistake. They often were predictable with man coverage, rarely blitzed, and repeatedly got burned by crossing routes. They also prided themselves on stopping the run, only to get punched in the mouth and get ran over...and over...and over.
On offense, they did have some moments, especially once Patricia fired Jim Bob Cooter after the 1st season. However, they have still managed to derail themselves by being too predictable. They ran a ton on 1st downs and are still too predictable based on personnel (Hmm, Peterson & Jesse James are in the game. 80% run probability). Some personnel decisions were curious as well, like last year’s guard rotation and sticking with guys like Blount and Peterson way too much at RB, despite spending obscene amounts of draft capital on the position.
Frustrating Roster Building
Everyone seems focused on Matt Patricia, but let’s not let Bob Quinn off the hook either. Taking Jahlani Tavai in the 2nd round and trading up to get Will Harris in the 3rd round last year are 2 of the absolute dumbest things I’ve seen in Detroit Lions draft history, which is saying a lot.
I could get into so many more moves that haven’t worked out in the draft & free agency, but I’ll just boil it down to one basic frustration. The Lions seem to dislike having good athletes. For the most part, they seem to like WRs who make contested catches, but don’t have speed & route-running ability to actually get open. That’s why you’re seeing Stafford get sacked a ton with Golladay out. They’re mostly coverage sacks because nobody’s open. They also like big and slow LBs who can’t cover anyone. They like big DL who supposedly can stop the run (they can't) and just don’t seem to give a crap about finding speed rushers who can get after the QB. The Lions have been moving the opposite direction of most of the rest of the league with these philosophies and I hate it.
Should They Have Kept Caldwell?
(expletive) No. It’s funny to me how everyone is acting like Jim Caldwell was Vince Lombardi or something. Yes, he was obviously wayyyy better than Patricia, but he had some talented rosters and really didn’t accomplish anything significant. How many division titles did he win? Zero. How many playoff games did he win? Zero. This team has won one playoff game since 1957. I’m sorry, but going 8-8 or 9-7 and getting knocked out in the 1st round of the playoffs isn’t going to cut it. Caldwell had 4 years with a solid roster (especially that 2014 team, which was absolutely loaded) and couldn’t get it done. Here’s what else went wrong under Caldwell that everyone seems to forget:
-The Lions were incapable of beating virtually anyone who had a winning record
-They literally went like 4 years without having someone rush for 100 yards in a game
-Their formula for winning was basically suck for 3 quarters and let Stafford & Prater put the entire team on their back and figure out how to win in the 4th quarter. That worked against most bad teams, but it was not a sustainable way to succeed against good teams.
-Offense was Caldwell’s specialty, but his OCs were terrible. Joe Lombardi was fired and Jim Bob Cooter had 1 good year, then was awful once everyone figured him out and he couldn’t adjust.
-In his last year, the Lions were burned multiple times by having only 10 men on the field.
-Anyone remember one of his last games which was a must-win game against the lowly Bengals where they looked like complete garbage and lost?
Look, I’m not meaning to be overly harsh and excessively dump on Caldwell. He did a nice job of bringing them out of the Jim Schwartz era, where they were horribly undisciplined both on and off the field, and made them a competitive team. There’s definitely something to be said for that. But man, let’s set our sights on something more here. We need to expect better. Bob Quinn hasn’t gotten many things right in his tenure as GM of the Lions, but when he said, “9-7 isn’t good enough” that was and still is an absolutely true statement. The next GM & coach need to find a way to make this a team that can actually win a stinkin’ playoff game. Anything less than that simply isn’t acceptable. Unfortunately, it’s probably going to be a while, since it’s likely going to take a while to undo the damage that Quinn & Patricia have done.
What’s next?
Whether the firings of Quinn & Patricia happen now, Monday, or at the end of the season, they must hire replacements, of course. The next GM is an even more important hire than the HC, but it’s hard to say who would be in the running there. For HC, I’m sure we’ll hear the names Eric Bienemy (Chiefs OC) and Robert Saleh (49ers DC) brought up a lot. I won’t get into names too much right now because it’s early and I don’t want to get too long winded. I’ll just give a few thoughts on my hopes for the next regime.
I’m going to speak in pretty general terms here, but from a team-building standpoint, I want better athletes. They’re closer to having a good offense than a good defense, so I think they should start by focusing more initially on building a very strong offense and figure out the defense moreso in the coming years. They need to replenish the WR corps with speedy guys who can get open and make plays. On defense, man, where to begin? I think Okudah & Oruwariye have potential to be a nice CB duo and just about everywhere else needs work. Just please, for crying out loud, quit ignoring the pass rush.
From a coaching standpoint, I want someone who’s flexible and can outscheme others, instead of just relying on “executing better.” Offensively, I’d love to see them open things up. Scheme to get guys open, pass to setup the run, use more motion & shifts, be less predictable, etc. On defense, I just want to see some aggression. It seems like we’ve seen nothing but “bend but don’t break” philosophy in Detroit and I’m very sick of it.
What about QB?
One last topic before I close is the QB. While I’m curious to see what he’d do with another non-sucking team, I’d be careful about moving on from Stafford. It seems like there are more good QBs in the league than there used to be, but still, finding a good one is not as easy as it seems. Maybe a fresh start is what both parties need, but I’m just pumping the brakes a bit here. With the proper system & players around him, it’s my belief that you can still win with him as your QB. Either way, they’d be wise to take a QB next year in the early rounds of the draft. It’s unfortunate that the Lions have neglected finding a developmental QB all of these years. Chalk that up as a failure for both Martin Mayhew and Bob Quinn. Between Stafford’s age and injury history, though, I think it’s clear that this cannot be ignored any longer - regardless of whether he stays or goes.
Those are my thoughts for now. Thanks for reading feel free to drop some comments of your own :)
