Getty Jim Caldwell during a Lions loss.
The Detroit Lions had an ugly loss on Sunday, and plenty of people were watching it play out in real time. Interestingly enough, the team’s former boss may have joined them.
Following Detroit’s ugly 20-0 loss to the Carolina Panthers, Jim Caldwell hopped on Twitter and posted an interesting thought. Was he subtweeting the Lions as well as Matt Patricia with the comment? The nature of his lesson for the day seemed to imply in a way that he was.
Here’s a look:
Great leadership requires a devotion to task, mission and ideology that can be understood by watching the man or woman in charge lead their life.
While the Lions, Matt Patricia and anyone else are not mentioned, the timing is certainly interesting. The tweet was posted at 4:47 p.m. which was just about the time after the Lions were putting the finishing touches on what feels like their worst loss of the season.
Those who want to read between the lines can certainly draw whatever parallels they wish, including the fact that Caldwell could be taking a shot at Patricia when he references leadership and how to tell if the message is setting in.
Often times, Caldwell uses his account to post similar affirmations and thoughts sometimes multiple times per day or per week, so it’s more than possible that this was just an honest coincidence. Skeptical Lions fans will certainly debate that considering the timing and the timbre of the message.
Jim Caldwell Record With Lions
Caldwell wasn’t the best coach the Lions ever had historically, but he was the best in recent history statistically. Caldwell was famously 36-28 with the Lions which included 2 playoff births. Though Caldwell was 0-2 in the playoffs, at the very least he made the tournament which is more than Matt Patricia can currently say for his tenure, which started in 2018.
During Caldwell’s time in Detroit, players loved him and continue to defend him for his work to this day. He built a pretty strong bond with the roster that some could argue has not been captured under Patricia to this point in time.
Analyst Mocked Lions Firing Jim Caldwell
After the Lions blew another game earlier this season in Week 2 sinking Patricia’s overall record to 9-24-1, John Feinstein took to Twitter to pose a question. How was it smart to fire Caldwell, a man who once won as many games in a season in Detroit as Patricia has won in his career?
Jim Caldwell was fired in Detroit after going 36-28; WORST record 7-9; two playoff and 9-7 in 2017. Matt Patricia is now 9-24-1–as many wins as Caldwell had in 16 games his last season in 34 games. How’s that move working out?
Given the struggles of Patricia and the Lions recently, it’s a theme that has come up plenty within the fanbase as folks begin to debate the merits of Patricia as a coach. If the losing continues, the criticism will only mount for Patricia as a boss and he could soon find himself in trouble for his job. Now that his record is an uglier 13-28-1, that might only be more of the case.
Should that happen, folks like Feinstien would likely find it deeply ironic given how Caldwell was run out of town a few years back.
Perhaps Caldwell himself find it deeply ironic, which could be why he chose this particular Sunday to share his selected message.