Writer: Matt Patricia Not Guaranteed to Return in Spite of Wins

The Detroit Lions are on pace to win more games in 2020 than they did in 2019, and that could leave weary fans who are frustrated with the team’s direction nervous about what happens next.

Does Matt Patricia get to return as a result of his team looking a bit more competent? Skeptical fans will proclaim that likely to be the case, but one beat writer isn’t so sure that’s the complete truth.

Following the 30-27 squeaker over the Washington Football Team, Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press joined WXYZ’s Brad Galli following the game. Birkett was asked if the fact that the 4-5 Lions are winning some of the games they should means Patricia coming back is all but guaranteed as some might fear.

His answer might have come as a surprise to some:

“I don’t think so at all. I think Matt Patricia was maybe a touchdown at the end instead of a field goal from getting fired. I don’t know if it would have happened Monday but it could have had they blown another double digit lead. If you go back to what Sheila Ford Hamp said when she took over in June, she said she wanted to see significant improvement from this team. I don’t know how you think this team has improved from last season. Maybe record wise, but they didn’t bring this regime back because they thought it was a 3 win team, they thought it was an 8 win team had Matthew Stafford been healthy. That’s still what they are. They’re still playing games against bad teams like Washington and not winning handily enough.”

Barely beating the bad teams while losing in embarrassing fashion to the good ones does not seem like a recipe for success for Detroit. This season, the team has made a habit of picking on the bad teams on their schedule while getting blown out in bigger games. To make a better case, Patricia had better find a way to win some bigger games against better teams.

As Birkett went on to say, it’s not as if the Lions have done anything spectacularly this season. Perhaps their biggest bright spot is the development of D’Andre Swift, but even such, the team itself hasn’t seen much outside that as a shining moment this year.

It’s more than possible this could play a role for the team when they make a decision about their future in just over a month. Regardless, on the field and off, it hasn’t been a great season for Patricia whatsoever.

Matt Patricia on Hot Seat

It’s safe to say that Patricia is in trouble given how things have gone in his tenure with the team. Detroit’s biggest win in that stretch was an upset of New England in 2018. Otherwise, Patricia has beaten injury riddled and inconsistent teams for the modest wins on his schedule. He’s yet to have a signature win within the division or in the NFC in order to boost his program.

If the Lions evaluate Patricia with this in mind, it’s possible he could be in trouble in the coming months should the team not net some huge wins and make a major turnaround down the stretch.

Matt Patricia’s Record With Lions

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, but the answer might not be as cut and dry as some like to think given changes that happened to the Lions ownership over the summer.

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