The Matt Patricia era is over in Detroit. On Saturday, the Lions announced that they have relieved the head coach, along with general manager Bob Quinn of their duties after a 4-7 start to the 2020 season. This comes in the immediate aftermath of a 41-25 blowout loss to the Houston Texans on Thanksgiving in Week 12. Previously, in Week 11, the Lions were shutout at the hands of the Carolina Panthers.
Patricia first signed on as the head coach of the Lions back in 2018 after spending nearly a decade-and-a-half inside the New England Patriots organization. As for Quinn, he also came over from the Patriots organization, albeit starting in 2016.
While Patricia’s arrival brought the promise of turning the franchise into a contender after helping lead New England to three Super Bowl titles as the defensive coordinator, his tenure as Lions head coach was anything but fruitful. Over the two-and-a-half seasons as head coach, Patricia finishes with a 13-29-1 record (.314 win percentage). For reference, Jim Caldwell, who Patricia replaced, went 36-28 (.563 win percentage) over his tenure in Detroit.
Heading into this season, it was abundantly clear that both Patricia and Quinn were on the hot seat. Back in December of 2019, then-owner Martha Ford and then-vice chair (now owner) Sheila Ford Hamp penned an open letter to fans where they stated “our expectation is for the Lions to be a playoff contender in 2020.” With that not coming to fruition as the calendar is set to turn to December in 2020, ownership has decided to cut its losses and reset.
From here, the Lions will turn to offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell as the interim head coach, according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. Bevell has been the OC in Detroit the past two seasons. Prior to that, he held the same position with the Seattle Seahawks from 2011-2017 and helped lead the franchise to a Super Bowl XLVIII title.
