Getty Matt Patricia during the Lions game vs. the Saints.
The Detroit Lions have a head coach struggling to find his way in Matt Patricia and that could lead the coach to being on the hot seat in the weeks ahead.
According to Peter King of NBC Sports, while Patricia might not be the top name on the list, he is certainly figuring in high on the list. In terms of ranking, King said on the Dan Patrick Show that Adam Gase and Dan Quinn could be 1-2. Patricia lands in the No. 3 spot.
1.) Adam Gase 2.) Dan Quinn T-3.) Matt Patricia T-3.) Bill O’Brien.
@Peter_King ranks coaches on the hot seat in order
For Peter’s full appearance: t.co/GigdRxnhzj
In the future, these rankings could change. Certainly, most would expect Gase and Quinn to be strongly in the mix to be fired first. Patricia, while a distant third, could get fired eventually as well, but timing is everything. The team could elect to keep him through the duration of the season before deciding on a move.
Regardless, Patricia remans atop the league’s early hot seat and providing he can’t stack together tons of wins, he’s not likely going anywhere on that list.
Peter King Thinks Matt Patricia’s Tenure ‘About Done’
Patricia was said to be on a short leash entering 2020 where the understanding was his team needed to compete for the postseason in order for him to keep his job. So far, that doesn’t look close to happening after the start to the season, and as a result, Patricia’s tenure could be taking on water quickly.
Veteran NFL analyst Peter King had plenty to say about this in a recent Football Morning in America piece following Detroit’s blowout loss on the road in Week 2. As he admitted, a major theme to emerge already in 2020 is the fact that it’s merely September and Patricia looks finished in Detroit.
King wrote:
“The Lions have lost 11 in a row, and they’re the worst finishers since 2019 Edwin Diaz. In Week 1, they blew a 17-point fourth-quarter lead and lost to the Mitchell Trubisky Bears. In Week 2, they blew an early 14-3 lead in Green Bay and lost by 21. Predictably, all the Lions stuck by their coach in the aftermath, but what are they going to say? The most troublesome thing about the Lions is that Patricia was considered a brilliant defensive mind and tactician in New England, and he just can’t get the defense right in Detroit.
The next two weeks likely won’t help. Detroit is at the 2-0 Cardinals, with the 1-0 Saints (playing tonight) coming to Detroit in Week 4. Then Detroit has its bye. There’s no way the franchise would fire him at 0-4 this year and 9-26-1 in his tenure, is there? Doubtful, but clearly, Patricia doesn’t have a lot of time to save his job, not when the Cleveland Browns have five more wins than Patricia since opening day 2018.”
Patricia might not lose his job early in the season, but if the losing continues, King is right in his notion that it might be difficult to keep him long term as a result of what has gone on during the games. The blown leads are piling up, and making it look like an epidemic this staff cannot get out of their locker room. At 9-24-1, Patricia doesn’t have the record to inspire confidence in a quick turnaround, either.
2020 was supposed to be a fresh start for Patricia and his Lions, but the only constant has been more ugly losses. These trends, if they continue, don’t point to the Lions climbing out of their current hole enough to save Patricia from his eventual doom.
Torrey Smith: Matt Patricia ‘Lying’ About Lions Work
Speaking after another Lions debacle on Sunday, Patricia said that the team he took over had a lot of work to do in order to be successful, and he’s trying to do that work now. Naturally, that excuse isn’t sitting well with some fans and even some alumni of the team.
It also isn’t sitting well with former Super Bowl champion wideout Torrey Smith. While Smith never played for the Lions, he did play under their former coach Jim Caldwell with the Baltimore Ravens, and recognizes that Caldwell had the Lions a lot closer to the playoffs and the postseason success than Patricia ever has.
As Smith tweeted, Patricia’s assertion that the franchise had a lot of work to do is a lie, considering the team was 9-7 following Caldwell’s departure.
It’s certainly getting harder for defenders of Patricia to find rallying points given his miserable record and the decline of the team under his watch. Just this week, Patricia lost to a team that was down 6 starters while the majority of his own team was healthy.
In the aftermath, it’s probably not wise for Patricia to blame his situation on his predecessors. He should be taking complete ownership of the team’s failures. When he doesn’t, it only makes him seem more ridiculous in the end.
Patricia might be living on borrowed time in Detroit if King is right.
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Matt Patricia High on NFL Insider’s Hot Seat Power Rankings