The New England Patriots finished 2024 at 4-13, equalling the worst record for that franchise since going 2-14 in the 1992 season. There were a multitude of reasons for the 2024 debacle, but the Patriots defense — which has long been one of the team’s main strengths — was definitely one of them. New England was not the worst defense in the NFL, but it did place 22nd out of the 32 teams in points allowed per game, with an average of 24.5.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft fired first-year head coach Jerod Mayo within hours of the team’s final regular season game on January 5, and almost immediately began the process of interviewing for a new one. High on Kraft’s list was the Detroit Lions’ defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, who ran a defense that placed seventh overall allowing just 20.1 points per game and played a major role in leading the Lions to a franchise record 15-2 season, and the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.
But that all came crashing down on Saturday night for the Lions, who suffered a humiliating exit in the divisional round — the Lions first playoff game after a Wild Card week bye — when they were soundly beaten by the No. 6 seeded Washington Commanders, 45-31.
Glenn: Patriots ‘Not Best Situation For Me’
Prior to the Lions divisional round disaster, Glenn was one of the most sought-after candidates on the head coaching market. He had already been called in for interviews with at least six teams, and he carried through on five. Those were the New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars, Chicago Bears and Las Vegas Raiders.
The Patriots were missing from the list of Glenn’s interviews, though they invited him to sit for one and compete for the job that eventually went to former New England linebacker and ex-Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel. That’s because Glenn spurned the Patriots, refusing their request to consider him.
Why? on Thursday, in a meeting with reporters leading up to Saturday’s divisional round playoff game, Glenn delivered an eight-word statement addressing his reasons for leaving Kraft and the Patriots hanging.
“It just wasn’t the best situation for me,” Glenn said, perhaps a reference to the sorry state of the Patriots defense which would have become his responsibility as head coach.
Glenn’s Detroit Defense Was Historicaly Bad Saturday
And then, two days later, Glenn’s defense took the field and turned in performance that ranks among the worst in NFL playoff history. The 45 points allowed by the Detroit defense was the most given up by any No. 1 seed in the playoffs in 14 years, and one of only 22 times in 575 playoff games since the start of the Super Bowl era in 1967 that any team has surrendered 45 points or more.
In the 2010 season, the Atlanta Falcons earned the NFC’s top seed, finishing the regular season with a dominant 13-3 record behind head coach Mike Smith and third-year quarterback Matt Ryan. Then, on January 15, 2011, the Falcons took on the sixth-seeded, 10-6 Green Bay Packers in a divisional round game and promptly gave up 48 points. Needless to say, the Falcons lost. The final score was 48-21.
In fact, the Falcons’ loss was the only other time besides Saturday night’s stunning Lions defeat that a No. 1 seed allowed at least 45 points in a playoff game since the NFL introduced Wild Card playoff rounds in 1978.
Glenn’s Detroit defense surrendered 482 yards including 299 in the air by Washington’s rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, who also pierced the Lions defense for two touchdown passes.
At one point, the Lions had Washington at fourth-and-two on the Deroit five-yard line. And then Glenn’s defense somehow put 12 men on the field, causing a penalty that allowed the Commanders to extend what turned out to be a 15-play, 70-yard touchdown drive.
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After Coach Spurns Patriots, Lions Defense Turns in Historically Bad Performance