On This Date: Detroit Lions Fire Matt Patricia

Matt Patricia was fired by the Detroit Lions three years ago, after repeatedly struggling to establish Detroit's defense and alienating prominent members of the roster. 

In just shy of three seasons, Patricia amassed an abysmal 13-29-1 record after taking over as Detroit's head coach. 

The culture surrounding the team was confrontational and the product out on the field was uninspiring. 

Jim Caldwell, who is currently serving as a special offensive assistant with the Carolina Panthers, had the Lions in the postseason regularly and was widely regarded as one of the most popular coaches in franchise history. 

Former general manager Bob Quinn likely felt the team had reached it's ceiling and decided to turn to a friend and former colleague with the New England Patriots. 

New England West was a complete flop, as Quinn was 31-43-1 during his stint as general manager (2016-2020). 

"It was a hard decision because they are both terrific people and worked very hard and tirelessly for this organization," owner Sheila Hamp explained. "It just clearly wasn't working.

"It wasn't what we had hoped for when we hired them, and so I don't know if there was an exact moment. It was something that we had been thinking about for several weeks and going back and forth and deciding."

Recall, Detroit had subpar performances against the Panthers and the Houston Texans on Thanksgiving, which gave ownership the answers it needed to fire their head coach and general manager. 

Ownership felt the team was on the verge of a playoff push, but eventually came to the conclusion Patricia could not lead the team and that a culture change needed to take place. 

"Ten days ago we looked like we had a good chance to be playoff-bound, and both of those games were extremely disappointing," Hamp explained. "And just seemed like the path going forward wasn't what we wanted it to be so, yes, we thought this was a good time to make the change."