Detroit Lions: Hollow victory shouldn’t change Patricia’s fate

The Detroit Lions snatched a last-second win in Week 10 but it’s a hollow victory.

The Detroit Lions sealed a walk-off win over Washington with a long field goal in Week 10 but the victory is not worth celebrating. The Lions barely beat a bad Washington Football Team and blew another big lead in the process, giving up 21 points to allow Washington to claw back into contention.

This was a Matt Patricia coaching clinic — a class that shouldn’t be in high demand. The scripted plays to start the game worked. After that, almost nothing was effective. Even after a win, the sentiment that the head coach needs to go should only be furthered and the process sped up.

Patricia’s Lions are unable to make in-game adjustments with any effectiveness. This is a fundamental element of playing and coaching in the NFL. No team, no matter how bad, continually rolls out the same formations, personnel, play calls and play designs over four quarters.

Yet, the Lions are either unable to see this or are too stubborn to change. Patricia is a rocket scientist, part of the most dominant dynasty of the last 20 years. By that measure, he should be the smartest coach in the NFL. Instead, he suffers from “Smartest Guy in the Room Syndrome”. In his opinion, he’s never wrong — but he’s clearly been wrong for three years now.

The constant calling of clock-chewing plays while there is still far too much time left in the game is baffling. The refusal to dial up pressure is staggering. And the refusal to admit he is wrong is insulting to Lions fans.

Winning against Washington shouldn’t change the Detroit Lions’ ideal direction.

The Detroit Lions are not a good team; they’re not even an average team. The Lions beat bad teams and they lose to mediocre teams. This was the year the team had to compete for a division title or else the coaching staff and front office would start to turn over. Patricia had no excuse. He has his players, his staff and it’s year three.

Yet, the results aren’t there. Sure, the team moved to 4-5 on the season and won in Week 10. But the product on the field didn’t show anything positive about the direction in Detroit.

Patricia can’t coach; it’s the hard truth of the situation. He has no ability as a live-game moderator on the sidelines and the Lions remain ill-disciplined and underprepared. Moreover, Patricia is clearly overly stubborn, refusing to do anything other than play man coverage, among a litany of other issues.

Trying to bend players to his will and be a Bill Belichick clone doesn’t work just because you want it to. Instead, Patricia has bent the Lions into a disaster. His fate should be written in stone at this point and a last-second win over Washington should have no effect on that.