Getty Matt Patricia before Lions vs. Colts.
The Detroit Lions haven’t enjoyed much success during the Matt Patricia era of football, and a big reason why could be the coach’s personality.
Since 2018, the Lions have been trying to install Patricia’s culture and way within the team. It has hardly gone as planned, and it’s clear the coach has ruffled more than a few feathers along the way with his plan and a sometimes prickly personality.
Bleacher Report writer Kalyn Kahler took an inside look at this with a comprehensive piece. Perhaps the most interesting revelation comes early. A few Lions players were so relieved to be done with Patricia back in 2018 that they popped champagne and sipped mimosas following the end of the season.
Here’s the story:
“One player’s agent had sent him champagne for a Christmas gift, and he had kept it in his locker, waiting for the right moment to uncork the celebration. Saying goodbye to Patricia, at least until OTAs, seemed like just the reason to party. Before the Lions’ last team meeting, mid-morning, a group of 10 to 15 players took orange juice from the cafeteria and mixed it with the champagne to make mimosas.
They chilled and sipped out of Solo cups, finally relaxing after a season of long practices, tough conditioning and routinely getting cussed at by their head coach, who had a long list of rules that a former player described as taking the fun out of the game. “It was a free-for-all,” he says. The stifling Patriot Way experience had been a culture shock many veteran players were elated to be done with.”
That’s merely the tip of the iceberg from Kahler’s piece, however. Within, she details the trouble several Lions players have had with Patricia, from his profane language early in his tenure with the team to his message, which often fell flat. A great example of that was Patricia sharing video of Cam Newton dancing attempting to motivate only for it to backfire when the team approved.
A few players are interviewed that downplay some of the tension and argue that Patricia has grown and the Lions could be on the right track. Obviously, with a tough record this season, that might be hard to prove to a weary fanbase with stories like this coming out.
What This Piece Proves About Matt Patricia
There was always going to be a major culture shock when Patricia came to Detroit for players, but to see some of the inside stories that detail it is certainly interesting. The bottom line is wins and losses will decide Patricia’s fate. The stories are certainly a frustrating postscript, but if Patricia wins, it will be nothing but background noise. Should Detroit finish the season in another miserable way and miss the playoffs, Patricia could be gone as a result of that more than anything.
Regardless, these stories do raise eyebrows in the meantime as it results to how Patricia is connecting with the team.
Matt Patricia’s Lions Tenure
Certainly, a 13-27-1 record isn’t a great way to build faith in a program, and to say that Patricia’s tenure has been a mess has been a massive understatement. He’s struggled with a few things outside his control such as 2019’s injury outbreak, but there is no reason Patricia should be struggling in year 3 considering he had plenty of his players in his scheme and theoretically, a blank slate with which to work. Worse, Patricia has become known for his team’s inability to finish games and not beat the better teams he faces on the roster. Certainly, that’s been the most obvious calling card in his tenure.
Will Patricia survive 2020? That remains anyone’s guess, and no conclusion to that is presented in the piece. It’s clear, however, folks are starting to notice just how badly his tenure has gone.
Stories like this won’t help in the perception whatsoever.
READ NEXT: Grim Stat Proves Lions Defense Only Getting Worse