Tuesday open thread: Does Matt Patricia deserve to be on the hot seat?

If there’s anything that generates buzz in the city of Detroit, it’s the Detroit Lions. It doesn’t matter what their record is, it doesn’t matter what time of the year it is, the team just draws an interest.

Sometimes that interest is hopeful, but emphasis on the “sometimes.” For now, sitting at 3-6-1, the Lions are under year two of head coach Matt Patricia’s tutelage, and things aren’t looking so hot. Well, except for the seat he’s occupying.

Here’s today’s Question of the Day...

Does Matt Patricia deserve to be on the hot seat?

Patience is something seldom seen around this league, especially when it comes to the coaches hired by fledgling organizations. For instance, take a gander at this statistic:

Those teams like New England, Seattle, Kansas City, and Pittsburgh all have something most obvious in common and that’s stability at the top. Bill Belichick has been the coach of the Patriots for 20 seasons. Pete Carroll has been the coach of the Seahawks for 10 seasons. The Chiefs and the Steelers have both kept Andy Reid and Mike Tomlin in the top spot 7 and 13 seasons respectively.

Those teams with zero consecutive winning seasons like Arizona, the New York Jets, Cleveland, Miami and the Lions are all fast-pass travelers on the coaching carousel. The Cardinals fired Steve Wilks after one season with a rookie quarterback the team both drafted and traded within a single calendar year!

While someone like Wilks undoubtedly got a raw deal, the context, as with all things in life, matters.

When Matt Patricia was hired to be the head coach in Detroit, he was taking over a team that was deemed unable to clear the hump of mediocrity with his predecessor Jim Caldwell. Under Caldwell’s direction, the team experienced more success than it had in almost 20 years. Caldwell led the team to a record of 36-28 and two playoff appearances; but for general manager Bob Quinn, 9-7 seasons weren’t enough.

Going on year two of this Patricia experiment, the Lions are barreling towards another top-10 draft pick. Granted, the team is without franchise quarterback Matthew Stafford, but things weren’t exactly looking up for the team when he was healthy; the Lions have one of the worst defenses in the NFL by just about any metric you pick.

The team should really consider hiring a defensive coach. Someone with the wherewithal and genius to scheme week-to-week against opponents by taking even the most average players and putting them in the best spot to succeed. Like, someone super smart at football. A rocket scientist, if you will.

Ope.

Your turn.