From Birkett at the Free Press:
You are what your record says you are — unless you’re the Detroit Lions and guaranteed to finish in last place in the NFC North for a second straight season.
The Lions turned in another dog of a performance Sunday, losing to the Minnesota Vikings, 20-7, on a day when their offense could do nothing right.
They went three-and-out on six of their first eight offensive possessions, finished with a season-low 231 yards of net offense, and narrowly avoided their first shutout since 2009.
At 3-9-1, the Lions are in danger of finishing with their worst record since going 2-14 a decade ago. But after Sunday’s game, embattled coach Matt Patricia insisted the Lions are not what their record says they are — the old Bill Parcells saying be damned.
“We’re in tight ballgames and we’re right there all the way through, and I think the hard thing for us and what I appreciate about this team is we don’t look at our record and say this is what we are,” he said. “I think we look at our record and say that’s not what we are and we’ve got to do better and try to figure out how we get the record to match up with what we are.”
Losers of six straight, the Lions are one of the worst teams in the NFL.
Just four teams have worse records, and only one — the lowly New York Giants — has a longer losing streak (eight).
Patricia, an offshoot of the Parcells coaching tree after working for Bill Belichick for 14 years, took over a Lions team coming off back-to-back nine-win seasons. So far, he has managed just nine wins in 29 games. His .328 winning percentage is worse than Jim Schwartz (.363) and Steve Mariucci (.349), and with three games to play, his job could be on the line.
I expect this kind of excuse making and petitioning to try to avoid accountability for results from a certain cohort of Lions fans, who have apparently been conditioned into it. Hearing it from Patricia just sounds weaselly, like a guy pleading to be kept on-board despite the fact that he’s failed from the moment he arrived.
As I’ve pointed out here multiple times, the 0-16 Lions lost four or five games by a TD or less. Being close in games doesn’t mean a thing.
And acting like you’re the only team in the league that has injuries is rather pathetic as well.
Am I the only one who thinks a 3-9-1 coach talking about how they’re always in games but just can’t quite win them works AGAINST bringing that coach back?
