“Lions owner Martha Ford told reporters on Tuesday that Patricia and General Manager Bob Quinn will both return to the team for the 2020 season. It will be Patricia’s third year as head coach and Quinn’s fifth season in Detroit. Both men are under contract through 2022.” (Pro Football Talk)
The Detroit Lions have had 14 losing seasons in the last 20 years.
This season will be the second losing season in a row for the Lions and the 6th losing season since 2009.
Let’s talk about the basics: this team has not been good this season. They are 3-10 and have looked lost since Matt Stafford went down.
The Lions defense has been bad the entire season.
They have a Defensive DVOA of 9.5%, which is 26th in the league. DVOA is Defense-adjusted Value Over Average, which in simple terms means how the defense plays in the biggest moments and most important plays. For more: Football Outsiders.
The Lions WEI Defense is 14.2%. Weighted Defense is adjusted so that earlier games in the season become gradually less important. This shows that the Lions have improved, but not at a significant rate.
The Lions have lost games where they have scored 30 points TWICE this season against the Chiefs and another game in October against the Vikings. In those games, Stafford had 655 yards and 7 TD’s combined.
The Lions defense has allowed 374 points this season. To put that in perspective, the Lions offense has only scored 304 points.
It’s also worth noting that Matt Patricia, the Lions head coach since 2018, was brought in to help the defense. And the Lions GM, Bob Quinn, was brought in to establish “The Patriot Way.” Well, the only “way” the lions have is losing. And it’s becoming more and more prevalent.
Mathew Stafford has been wasted
Matthew Stafford will go down as one of the best passers in NFL history. The former Georgia bulldog has been in the league since 2009, which makes this his 10th season with the Lions since being drafted first overall in the NFL Draft.
Stafford is a tough SOB. He is missing his first games since 2011 this season, having recently been placed on IR (Back).
He is in the top 20 in passing yards, 41,025, and passing TD’s, 256. He is 22nd in passer rating. If you wanna keep going, Stafford is also top 20 in passes completed with 3,559, and he should pass Joe Flacco, 3,670, by next season to move up to 17th in that category.
Simply put: Matt Stafford has been really good and the Lions haven’t put together a good enough team in 10 years to give him some help.
Stafford hasn’t had below an 80 QB rating since his 4th season in 2012. The Lions playoffs wins from 2013-2019? 0.
Sell the Team
Many fans have asked the Lions to sell the franchise, as they do not see a direction where the Lions will win anytime soon. And if the past can predict the future, they may be right.
The Ford’s bought the Lions in 1963 and have had winning seasons in just 15 of those years. 15 winning seasons since 1963 is abysmal. And guess who still owns the team? The mediocrity coming out of Detroit has to be put on the Ford’s and their incompetence running a franchise.
The Ford’s were also in charge of hiring Matt Millen, who went 31-84 as Lions GM, and is in charge of assembling the worst team to every play a season of football in 2008, when the Lions went 0-16. Besides Calvin Johnson, the Lions first round picks from 2001-2008 had just one pro bowl appearance. Just one.
Mediocrity has been the face of the Detroit Lions since 1963. Something needs to change if they ever want to get back to being a winning franchise. The Ford’s should do the right thing and sell the team.
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