Matthew Stafford and the Lions: Why Hasn't It Worked?
A rocket right arm, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft and the fastest player in NFL history to eclipse 40,000 passing yards.
Just some of the many attributes and achievements that help tell the story of 32-year-old Matthew Stafford.
Stafford, however, will also always -- for better or worse -- be remembered for being the quarterback of the Detroit Lions.
It's been a career marked by tons of individual accolades but also a high degree of team lowlights -- none more notable than the seven losing seasons he's experienced in 11 seasons with the franchise.
The multitude of losing campaigns has only been compounded by the lack of postseason success.
Since joining the franchise in 2009, the Lions have qualified for the playoffs only three times and have failed to record a single playoff victory.
Of the 176 games the Lions have played in over the course of the last 11 years, including the three postseason contests, Stafford has started in 152 of them, and has gone a combined 69-82-1.
It's far from a stellar record. And sure, as the starter at the most important position on the field, he deserves some of the blame for the overall mediocrity the organization has experienced in his time in Motown.
But, he's also been the one constant as the organization has gone through three different head coaches and four different offensive coordinators.
NBC Sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Chris Simms believes that Stafford has had the hopes of the franchise riding on his golden arm throughout his career.
"Stafford, to me, has been carrying that organization his whole career," said Simms via his "Unbuttoned" podcast. "Has a little bit of like, the LeBron James factor going on where he's a victim of his own greatness, where he's made his team just get into the playoffs or be in the playoff conversation and they don't get in and we go, 'Matt Stafford can't win a playoff game,' or, 'They can't get to the playoffs.' And I want to go, 'They would be 3-13 if it wasn't for Matt Stafford. He's the reason they're 9-7 and in the conversation or squeaked into the playoffs.'"
To be fair, Detroit has given Stafford a few nice weapons to work with over the years.
Most notably, Stafford did have three-time All-Pro wide receiver Calvin Johnson to throw to from 2009-15.
Stafford and Johnson, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, were perhaps the best quarterback-receiver connection in the game when both were healthy.
Johnson retired at the conclusion of the 2015 season. But, before doing so, he left his mark on the franchise and the NFL.
His biggest accolade was setting the single-season NFL record for receiving yards, with 1,964 yards in 2012.
Along with that, he stands at the top of the leaderboard in several all-time receiving stats for the Lions.
He leads the team in career receptions (731), reception yards (11,619) and TD catches (83).
Stafford also had Golden Tate, the wideout with the seventh-most receiving yards in franchise history (4,741), to throw to, at one point.
Stafford and Tate, a one-time Pro Bowler, suited up together in Honolulu Blue from 2014 until midway through the 2018 campaign.
Tate put up three 1,000-plus yard receiving seasons during his time in the Motor City, including in 2014 when he accumulated a career-high 1,331 yards.
© Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press, Detroit Free Press via Imagn Content Services, LLC
That 2014 campaign also happened to feature the best Lions team of the last decade and easily of Stafford's career.
Not only did he have two Pro Bowlers in Johnson and Tate as his No. 1 and No. 2 receiving options, but he also had high-impact defensive players Ezekiel Ansah, DeAndre Levy and Ndamukong Suh as his teammates.
The defense also featured an up-and-coming, second-year pro in cornerback Darius Slay and free safety Glover Quin, who made his only trip to the Pro Bowl thanks to a career-best seven interceptions.
The team, which was constructed by then-general manager Martin Mayhew, was good enough on both sides of the ball to win double-digit games, to win the NFC North and to most importantly, make some noise in the playoffs.
Only one of those three things was achieved, however.
The Lions managed to win 11 games, but failed to win the division and failed to make any kind of noise in the postseason. They lost in the wild card round to the Dallas Cowboys, 24-20.
And right there, folks, is, unfortunately, the most success the Lions have had in the Stafford era.
Since that loss to the Cowboys, the organization has gone a measly 34-45-1 in the regular season, including two straight losing campaigns.
And the franchise has been nowhere near as balanced of an attack since.
In '14, the defense was third-best in the league in terms of points allowed (17.6 per game).
The best the defense has been in subsequent years is 13th-best (22.4 points allowed/game), which came in 2016.
Another aspect of the Lions that has largely been a detriment to Stafford is the running game.
The organization has consistently failed to support its franchise passer with a productive ground attack.
Even in '14, it reared its ugly head. With Joique Bell and Reggie Bush as the primary backs, Detroit's backfield finished with just the 28th-most yards (1,422), 29th-most yards per attempt (3.6) and the 17th-most TDs (11).
© Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
And the most telling stat of the organization's consistently ineffective rushing attack is this: Since Stafford's first NFL season (2009), Bush is the only Lions back that has rushed for 1,000 yards in a single season.
It came in 2013 when the ex-USC Trojans runner accumulated 1,006 yards on the ground in 14 games.
This all speaks to the fact that outside of the '14 campaign, Stafford has never had the luxury of having a productive offense and defense at the same time.
So, if you do the math, that's one season out of 11 in which Stafford has had a competitive enough roster to beat the best teams in football.
It would hardly be fair for any longtime franchise quarterback to deal with such strenuous circumstances, let alone one that has done so much for one organization — as is the case for Stafford with Detroit.
He's the greatest passer the franchise has ever seen, as he's the team's all-time leader in passing yards (41,025), touchdowns (256) and yards per game (275.3).
And headed into 2020, he continues to play at a high level.
"Matthew Stafford, from what I saw last year, the throws, the leadership, the decisions, his subtle movements in the pocket, he's not always going to scare you running, but he's great at just, I got a little pressure, and then walks up this way and throws a 20-yard laser down the middle of the field. He makes so many freaking plays and throws that change the game and I go, 'Wow, it's just unbelievable,'" said Simms. "They just don’t always capitalize because they’re not a great team up there in Detroit.”
Stafford hasn't been helped out by the front office in Detroit. Instead, he's been hurt by the inability of those in charge to build a quality roster surrounding him.
The organization, going into its 12th year with him, is subsequently not where it needs to be.
