The future appeared to be bright for the Detroit Lions coming off a 9-7 season and a wildcard loss to the Saints. In attempt to try and strive for more in the playoffs, the Lions decided to hire Matt Patricia, the defensive coordinator of the New England Patriots coming off his best season with the squad leading their defense to a league low of 16 points allowed per game. Hopes were never higher in Motown and expectations for Patricia to bring them to the promise land were realistic. Most of you know the story that follows but to sum it up, Patricia left Detroit with a record of 13-29-1 with a more than capable roster each year and not a single playoff appearance in his 3 years. The question pondered is: What went wrong with Patricia and the Lions? 

            The first reason would have to be the connection with his players. Patricia could be the smartest coach and say all the right things, but the way he projected himself to the team interfered with many of the players abilities and development. Anyone would want to play for a coach who gives respect to his players and knows where and when to say things. There was plenty of tweets from former Lions players like Darius Slay and Glover Quin who played under Patricia ripping him for things he’s said and for being a coach they just don’t want to play for. Quin made a post regarding Matt Patricia saying: “There was a lot of work to do when I got here, were trying to do it.” Where Quin responded by saying: Don’t start this mess!!! You took over a 9 win team!! What you mean a lot of work to do!!”. 

            This leads to the second reason which would be Patricia’s inability to take responsibility for his actions. Not once in his whole tenure did he take responsibility for a loss in the postgame press conference. When a coach constantly says that his team needs to “play better or “be better”, the players would hear that and feel disrespected when the coach could’ve done plenty of things differently. The best coaches take the blame even if they truly weren’t and never try and belittle the hard work of their players. 

            The final reason could have been the schemes he brought with him from New England. Being a “Defensive-Minded” coach, he never called offensive plays and was strictly defense until he came to Detroit. Surprisingly, the Lions offense greatly outshined the defense in all facets. Running a 3-4 which has three down lineman with 4 linebackers behind them, this worked great in New England as they had one of the strongest linebacking cores in the whole league. With this formation relying on the play of the Linebackers, the Lions were set up to fail with a very weak linebacker group. Not much is known about Patricia implementing anything onto the offensive side, but it is safe to say it would have been better without. 

            Overall, many things could have gone differently for Matt Patricia, but in the end it never worked out the way many people in Detroit hoped. He will go down as a despised figure in the state of Detroit and whether you liked him or not, he did not do a good job as head coach for the Detroit Lions.