The Detroit Lions have made the decision to fire head coach Matt Patricia and General Manager Bob Quinn.
The decision was made two days after a disastrous loss to the Houston Texans on Thanksgiving dropped the Lions to 4-7 this season.
Patricia was on Belichick’s staff for 14 seasons, including six years as defensive coordinator, before Quinn gave him his first shot to be a head coach at any level. Patricia was incessantly peppered with questions about his job being in jeopardy, dating to the 2019 season, and refused to engage in the conversation with reporters.
“We know that we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Patricia said after falling to 0-3 on Thanksgiving with the Lions. “So, that’s my focus right now.”
Patricia finishes 13-29-1 in two-plus seasons at the helm, good for a winning percentage (.302) that is worse than every full-time coach in Lions history except Rod Marinelli and Marty Mornhinweg.
He won only two games in the division, he lost his last nine straight games in the division and never did the team beat Chicago or Minnesota.
Detroit was 6-10 under Patricia in 2018, won just three games last season and was barely better this year.
Jim Caldwell was fired as Lions head coach after back-to-back 9-7 seasons, and now Patricia has taken over for Caldwell and taken the Lions to three consecutive losing seasons.
Dan Quinn
Quinn, who was part of the Patriots’ personnel department for 16 years, was given his first shot to run an NFL front office in January 2016. He retained coach Jim Caldwell and Detroit reached the playoffs but then fired him the next season after another 9-7 record wasn’t enough to earn a spot in the postseason.
When Dan Quinn let Caldwell go with a 36-28 record over four seasons and an 0-2 mark in the playoffs, he said the move was made to find a coach to take the team to the next level.
We will keep you updated on who the Detroit Lions will hire as Head Coach and General Manager.
Shawn Stewart is the Founder and CEO of Sports 4 America , you can follow him on Twitter @Sports4Stewart
#Lions GM Bob Quinn makes opening statement about firing Jim Caldwell, saying he will search for coach who can take team to next level and to win a championship @AP_NFL pic.twitter.com/hS5yXn80vv
— Larry Lage (@LarryLage) January 1, 2018