Lions fire Quinn-Tricia

The new "owner" of the Lions, Sheila Ford-Hamp, finally did what she should have done at the end of last season and fired GM Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia after being embarrassed on national TV on Thanksgiving.

But of course it was more than just the last 3 games where the Lions got blown out by teams with 3 wins or less, it was the obvious - even to the Ford's - fact that the Lions were going nowhere fast under the "leadership" of the dynamic duo.

The Lions - who were at least respectable under Jim "I don't know the rules" Caldwell - coasted for 2 years on his team's left-overs, then faded fast as the bad drafts, bad trades, and worse coaching finally caught up.

Quinn made disastrous pick after pick, again trying to help Stafford, while the defense bled talent away in droves. Quinn/Patricia had the theory that Patricia's "coaching" and schemes could make up for a lack of talent. They were proved magnificently wrong as skilled players like pro-bowler "Big Play" Slay left for greener pastures, only to be replaced by draft pick busts.

The end result is Lions now have the worst defense in the league with very few pieces worth a dang on either side of the ball. Stafford - someone who never proved himself when the lights were brightest - now looking at his 5th (6th?) head coach and 3rd general manager. It's safe to say that Stafford's time here is finally now up, hopefully with some trade value still left in him. Either way, he's ended up being the biggest bust in sports history, with something like a quarter billion dollars being paid to him - yes, that's billion with a "B" - with zero playoff wins.

When you add into that that dozens of draft picks used to bolster Stafford, and the disaster of his time here is unmatched in pro sports anywhere.

Not that it's all his fault. True, he did little to nothing to force the Ford's hands into getting better coaching, but he can hardly be blamed for Caldwell getting replaced by two people who don't deserve to manage/coach a high school team, much less a professional team dying for a championship. He played hard and was tough as nails, but he - like pretty much everyone else associated with this mess - has got to go.

But just tearing this team down to the studs - and there's no guarantee that will happen - isn't a fix in itself. Sheila's press conference did little to inspire - she seemed to not understand the basics of the game, or that one of the Lions biggest problems in the last 6 decades is a lack of identity. What I mean by that is that all successful NFL franchises adopt a theory of the game, and then follow. The Bears, Giants, and Steelers have traditionally always had tough defenses. The Packers, Pats, Cowboys, Raiders, and 49ers all have a long tradition of innovative offenses. True, these teams don't always win and aren't always good, but by the same token they are rarely ever bad for very long, and all of them have won multiple championships in the last 60 years.

The Lions - who have only ever won 1 playoff game in that time in a league built on parity - must return to the days when teams literally feared traveling to Detroit because win or lose, they were going to get the shit kicked out of them.

So good riddance to Matt Patricia, a man so egotistical that he told reporters to sit up straight in their chairs when talking to him, showed up late to his own meetings with players, a man who told us he was the smartest man in the room. In the end all he proved is that he was an ass, and perhaps the worst head coach this league has ever seen.