The writing had been on the wall all season, but many failed to see it. I tried time and time again to talk people off the ledge and keep a clear mind about the future of this team. But fans wanted blood. For heads to roll. For yet another regime change, as if rapid turnover has ever produced anything tangible for this organization. Martha Firestone Ford and family have now made official what everyone should have already seen coming: Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn will be back in 2020. And no matter how fed up you think you are about the “same old Lions”, you’ll be back too.

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Confirming the obvious

There are many reasons why we all should have seen this decision coming all along. For starters, Patricia and Quinn’s contracts run through 2022, after Quinn’s was altered in 2018 so that the two would be on parallel timelines. It’s almost as if people are reacting to this news as if these two were given extensions, which is not the case. They are simply being retained, per the terms of their deals. Now, that doesn’t mean they can’t be relieved of their duties prior to 2022, of course, but they would still get them dollas regardless. Would you pay two people for three years of work just to go away, without knowing with confidence that it wasn’t going to work out?

Clearly, ownership believes that Quinn and Patricia give this team a better chance to turn this mess around than blowing it up and starting fresh would. The timing of the announcement (mid-season) also tells us that it was always the plan to retain Patricia and Quinn. The Lions are, after all, on an eight-game losing streak. But these late-season losses in 2019 are almost totally irrelevant to the future, outside of draft positioning, as the Fords have just confirmed. As calls for their heads grew louder with each passing loss, ownership felt it beneficial to publicly announce Patricia and Quinn’s retention now and shut everyone up.

The bottom fell out hard in 2019, and yet management was retained. It was always the plan, ladies and germs.

It can be helpful to take a step back and look at things from another’s perspective. The Ford family just hired Matt Patricia 22 months ago, in a move that was widely praised at the time for going outside the box with a young, up-and-coming commodity at head coach rather than a retread from the coaching carousel. Pairing Patricia with Quinn actually seemed like a savvy business decision, as they had a shared history and vision of how to build a winning organization (theoretically). Do you really think, after less than two years and a growing body count of injured players, ownership is ready to declare to the world that they were wrong and pull the plug? Not sure if you’ve noticed, but people are really bad at admitting when they are wrong. Not me, of course. But most people.

On top of that, how poorly would it reflect on ownership if this regime was already declared a failure, after just two seasons? And why would anyone be confident about the next hire, for that matter? And who would even be lining up to work for an employer who gives you the boot after a cup of coffee in your role, even when half your team ends the season on injured reserve?

Finally, not to sound morbid, but how many more regime changes do you think 94-year-old Martha has in her?

Speaking of injuries…

You know what really grinds my gears? When people say things like “injuries are not an excuse”, and then proceed to use them as an excuse. The ownership group did exactly that in an open letter to fans after the announcement that Patricia and Quinn would be back in 2020. Don’t hedge or hide behind the politically correct “no excuses” line to make yourself look better. The Ford family believes that injuries derailed the Detroit Lions in 2019. That’s why they brought it up in the letter, and partly (mostly?) the reason why they retained Patricia and Quinn. Tell it like it is. You can only criticize honesty so much, even if you disagree with the underlying opinion.

Why should they go all-in with the injury excuse? Because it’s a really good one. For an organization that has struggled to find sustained success even when they are healthy, how were they supposed to simply “find a way” to win despite losing their franchise QB in the midst of the best season of his career? Not to mention all of the other players who’s 2019 seasons ended prematurely.

Can some teams overcome injuries to their franchise quarterback and still tread water (or even win a Super Bowl i.e. Nick Foles)? Absolutely. However, the reality is that 12 of the 18 teams currently with a losing record have started a backup or rookie QB in at least one game this season. The Lions check both boxes, as they are currently starting a backup rookie QB (an undrafted one at that), and will have done so in half their games come season’s end.

It took the Lions a half-century to find their franchise QB, and still don’t have a playoff win during his career. So, maybe my bar is lower than most, but I don’t fault the Lions for having backup QB low on the list of priorities. Just finding one good QB has been nearly impossible for this organization. I have zero issues with a Stafford-or-bust philosophy. Expecting the backup QB of the Detroit Lions to win anything meaningful is a pipe dream. 

I know what you’re thinking: But they were only 3-4-1 with Stafford this season. That still likely results in a 7 or 8-win season, which would be a modest step forward in year-two for Patricia. Nothing to write home about, but certainly not a firable offense (at least not yet). Especially considering how they looked in those early-season games, which can get lost and forgotten over time. The Kansas City game in week 4 was probably the loudest I have heard Ford Field since the building opened in 2002. 

It wasn’t all bad

I’m going to go over-the-top Jonny sunshine here for a moment, so please don’t puke all over your keyboard…

Because of the way the year started with the team playing their best football of the season early, it is actually pretty incredible that we got eight weeks of relevant football out of this season. You can even round it up to ten (ahh..the Driskel days) if you want to count those last couple of games before they were technically eliminated. When is the last time a 3-win team was this interesting? Even the 2015 Lions, who went 7-9 under Jim Caldwell (the most popular guy in town, all of a sudden) began the season 1-7.

Wait, your blood isn’t still pumping from that 6-2 second-half in 2015? Didn’t think so. Probably because the almighty Caldwell followed up an 11-5 2014 season by not winning a game till mid-October. To be fair, there were a couple of screwjobs mixed in that year. Namely, the Seahawks illegal batted-ball game and the Aaron Rodgers phantom facemask/hail mary game. Nevertheless, they finished that season on a three-game winning streak that no one remembers, and cost themselves upwards of ten slots in the draft. A 4-12 record that year could have potentially nabbed them their pick of Joey Bosa, Zeke Elliott, or Jalen Ramsey. Instead, they ended up with Taylor Decker. Good times.

Each and every one of the Lions’ losses since Stafford went down has been good for the future of this organization. No one would feel any better about this team had Jeff Driskel finished off the Cowboys, or had David Blough completed the comeback against the Bucs and this team was 5-9-1 instead of 3-11-1. The Lions now have a very realistic shot at a top-3 draft pick, and even an outside chance at No. 2 if things break right in week 17 (but when is the last time that happened?). 

Inherent risk

Do I sound super-confident that the Lions are doing the right thing by bringing back Quinn and Patricia for another go around in 2020? Cause I’m super-not. Not even a little bit. How could I be, with the way the defense regressed this season? Take a trip back in time here, here, or especially here to relieve some of their worst performances (do it for the GIFs!). But I’m also not confident that the next regime will be any better than the current one. The devil you know…

The thing I do know is that we all still don’t know. And until we know, I think it’s over-reacting to blow it all up. Some people think they know, but they don’t know. Ya know?

We didn’t learn enough this season to get a clear enough picture of what the future holds. And that’s scary, because if this isn’t the regime capable of taking this franchise to the next level, entrusting them with a top-3 pick is a risky proposition. I mentioned last week that I wanted to see how a desperate Matt Patricia coaches. One that doesn’t have the job security that he clearly knew he had in 2019. I also said I wanted to see Bob Quinn make some “win now” transactions, rather than acquiring future assets. While I still think it’s worth seeing this play out, there is always a chance that a GM goes overboard when he senses the end is near and mortgages off the future in an attempt to save his job. Only time will tell. 

For what it’s worth, it seems the whole “players not buying in” thing might be overblown. For every Quandre Diggs and Jace Billingsley who throws shade at the front office after leaving town (Billingsley’s was blatantly an attempt to promote his wack-ass music career), there is a Mike Daniels or David Blough who swears by the structure in place in Detroit. This nugget was unearthed during the week 16 broadcast:

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See you next year

There is one thing I know for sure: Matt Patricia, Bob Quinn, and most importantly…YOU will be back in 2020.

“I’ve been a season ticket holder since the Dick LeBeau days, but now I’m done”. No you’re not. If you survivied this long, you ain’t goin’ nowhere.

“I’ll start watching again when the Fords sell the team.” 1) You are a liar. 2) It ain’t gonna happen. And 3) I guarantee you will be glued to the tube next September.

I always find it curious when people who are “done” with the Lions continue to put so much of their time and energy into this team. They call local sports radio on their landlines and wait on hold for three hours just to say “same old Lions”. They clog up comment sections and regurgitate what they read in the Free Press or whatever else they flip through while taking a dump. Typically, when I don’t care about something, I tend to give it less of my time. It’s a crazy notion. But hey, I’m a crazy guy. I am a Lions fan after all. You can’t break me. I’ve seen it all.

Except winning, that is.

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