On Sunday, the Detroit Lions lost to the New Orleans Saints, 35-29, despite starting the game with a 14-0 lead with two Matthew Stafford touchdown passes. And then, everything fell apart.
This is a trend. And a very bad one.
There are many reasons for the Lions to reconsider the hire of head coach Matt Patricia before the 2018 season. There’s his 10-25-1 record, further exacerbated by Detroit’s loss to the Saints on Sunday. There’s his ungodly refusal to switch to more zone coverage, even after it worked against the Cardinals last week to the tune of three Kyler Murray interceptions as Detroit beat the Cardinals, 26-23. When the Lions do play man coverage, and they do so more often than any other NFL team, they are absolutely butt-awful at it.
The Lions play more man coverage than anybody else. Why are they so bad at it?
But perhaps the primary reason for the Lions to move on to a different head coach is Patricia’s stunning inability to coach his team through double-digit leads.
Since the beginning of last season, no other team has come close to the Lions’ ability to drag defeat from the seemingly inevitable jaws of victory.
It is, in fact, historic.
The Lions become the first team in NFL history to lose 4 straight games in which they had a double-digit lead, according to @EliasSports.
Detroit has lost 11 straight games, its most since losing 19 in a row from 2007-09, including the first-ever 0-16 season in league history. pic.twitter.com/VCpZsI6mIl
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) September 20, 2020
The fourth of those four games came in Week 2, when the Lions put up an early 14-3 lead on the Packers, and left Lambeau Field with a 42-21 loss. Part of the reason for that failure was Detroit’s inability to counter a red-hot Aaron Rodgers with its usual combination of bad man coverage and very little pass rush. Against the Saints, it was the same old story. After those two Stafford touchdown throws, New Orleans scored 35 unanswered point and fended off a late charge from their opponent.
Why? You guessed it. More butt-awful man coverage!
If you’re going to run the same man coverage every snap and not generate a pass rush, Drew Brees is going to absolutely shred you. pic.twitter.com/dtloTi8hUV
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) October 4, 2020
The Lions are now 1-3 on the season, and they have continued a mark of futility that has never before been seen in NFL annals. And there’s nobody to blame but their head coach.
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