DETROIT – The Detroit Lions have fired head coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn, the team announced on Saturday.
Patricia was one of the hottest coaching names on the market when the Lions hired him in February 2018. Patricia was coming off a Super Bowl appearance with the New England Patriots and had been a successful defensive position coach and coordinator under Bill Belichick for 11 years.
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Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell is expected to be named interim head coach for the remainder of the season.
LAST MONTH: Detroit Lions dragging their feet (again) while other NFL teams fire coaches, GMs
But his defenses in Detroit were abysmal, and that set the foundation for a 13-29-1 record in two and a half seasons.
When Patricia took over, the Lions were coming off back-to-back 9-7 records. They hadn’t lost double-digit games in five seasons.
His first year, Patricia went 6-10. It got even worse in 2019, as the Lions went 3-12-1. This year, a 4-7 start was enough to end the Patricia experiment.
The Patricia era will be remembered for its porous defenses and epic blown leads. The only moment of hope came during the first three weeks of 2019, when the team started 2-0-1 before losing an incredible 12 of 13 games down the stretch to finish third-worst in the NFL.
Quinn was hired as Lions GM in 2016, taking over for Martin Mayhew, after spending several years in the Patriots organization.
Lions fans have heard the stat far too often: one playoff win in 63 years. The franchise is one of only four to never even reach the Super Bowl. In fact, the Lions have never even won the NFC North Division, even though there are only four teams.