The Detroit Lions are not panicking.
At least that's what coach Matt Patricia said the day after his team lost its third straight game by double digits.
"I believe in this team and we're going to work real hard every single day," Patricia said Monday. "I think the guys in that room have a great understanding of what they are and what we're going to do as a team. We're not hitting the panic button right now or anything like that right now. We're just trying to get better. I think that's our biggest thing is just try get some improvement."
The Lions are 3-6 and all but eliminated from playoff contention. Offensively and defensively, they haven't looked anything like the team that beat the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers and ran wild on the road against the Miami Dolphins.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford has been sacked 16 times the past two weeks. The run game has been anemic, and the defense looked out of sync with poor communication in Sunday's 34-22 loss at Chicago.
"I don't think it would be necessarily the right thing to do to hit the panic button," left tackle Taylor Decker said Monday. "Obviously, there's a ton of things we've got to correct. But there's a ton of things that are correctable. But no, I don't think we should be panicking per se."
But Patricia said the mandate was to continue to seek improvement through the final six games of the season.
"There's a lot of football left to be played and we're going to fight to the very end of this whole thing," he said. "So it's what we do in games, it's what we do single day: Try to get better. So we're absolutely just pushing forward."
