Duo of Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn Must Find Answers in 2020
A match made in heaven.
Or at least that's what was believed to have been the case for one-time New England Patriots colleagues Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia when they joined forces in the Motor City in 2018.
Quinn, who has served as the Detroit Lions' general manager since 2016, hired Patricia, the former Patriots defensive coordinator, in February of '18 to be Detroit's new head coach.
Patricia was appointed to the post with the intent of taking the Lions to the next level.
Patricia's predecessor Jim Caldwell had brought relevancy to the franchise in his four years as head man, but had failed to get the Lions over the proverbial "hump."
He recorded only one losing season in his tenure (7-9 in 2015), and led Detroit to two playoff appearances. However, he failed to guide the franchise to a single playoff victory.
Patricia was supposed to change that, and was expected by many Detroit fans and even some pundits to make the Lions into winners on the biggest stage, despite the fact that he had no prior head coaching experience at any level.
Prior to making the move to Motown, he had served 14 years as an assistant coach with the Patriots, including the last six years as defensive coordinator (from 2012-17).
And while with New England, Patricia came into contact with Quinn for the first time.
Their relationship dates back to 2004 when Patricia was an offensive assistant and Quinn was a regional scout for the organization.
They spent 12 years in New England together before Quinn left for his present front-office post with the Lions.
During the time in which Patricia called plays for the defense, the Patriots made three Super Bowls, winning two of them.
So, he had garnered a ton of success, but it wasn't as the Patriots' head man. That job has belonged to Bill Belichick, the owner of six Super Bowl rings as a head coach, since 2000.
Still, Patricia was believed by a large sect of Lions fans to be the missing piece to the puzzle.
Boy, has that proven to be completely untrue.
The organization has since taken several steps backward.
In fact, it's failed to record a winning campaign in his two seasons at the helm.
And things got so bad in 2019 that the team lost its final nine games and finished with the third-worst record in the league at 3-12-1.
It gives Patricia an overall mark of 9-22-1 in his two seasons as Lions head man.
Additionally, both years resulted in last-place finishes in the NFC North for the franchise -- the complete opposite of taking the Ford family-run organization to new heights.
But, Patricia can't solely be blamed for all of the team's woes over the last two years. And he shouldn't be blamed for the majority of them, either.
It's because Quinn has been the architect of the roster in Motown ever since he joined the organization in '16.
He's the one -- not Patricia -- that is responsible for all of the team's misfires in the NFL Draft over the course of the last five years (2016-20), including drafting only one Pro Bowler (receiver Kenny Golladay in the third round of the 2017 draft) in that span.
Tim Fuller-USA TODAY Sports
He's also been the one responsible for drafting busts, like linebacker Jarrad Davis and cornerback Teez Tabor in the first and second rounds, respectively, of the 2017 draft.
In case you were wondering, Tabor spent the '19 campaign on the San Francisco 49ers' practice squad.
Sure, Patricia should be held accountable for failing to win over the locker room in his first two years in Motown and for the defense's horrid production a season ago, finishing dead last in the league in passing yards allowed per game (284.4 yards) and 31st in total yards allowed per contest (400.4).
However, Quinn built this team, and has been with the organization longer.
He's also the one that decided to fire Caldwell after a 9-7 season and to hire Patricia in his place. Not the other way around.
Fast-forward to 2020, and there's never been a better time for the duo to get its act together than now.
Quinn and Patricia are operating on borrowed time, and subsequently, can't afford to produce a third consecutive losing season.
They've been mandated by ownership to turn the Lions into playoff contenders this upcoming season, and it likely means going at least 9-7.
If they don't, it becomes highly probable that the regime will be no more at season's end.
And they'll become the two latest examples of individuals that came into Motown with much promise, but have next to nothing to show for it on their way out of town.
