Patricia on Lions fans: ‘Understand their frustration’
Matt Patricia knows Detroit Lions fans are frustrated, maybe even angry, possibly downright dyspeptic, or flat-out furious about his team’s 0-2 start to the National Football League season.
And the rookie head coach’s message to those fans is ... well, he’s working on it.
“I would say that the fans are obviously the ones that we’re trying to go out and work the hardest for,” Patricia said Monday in a conference call with Detroit reporters. “And I certainly understand their frustration and we’re doing everything we can possible to make sure we get this turned around.”
I’m not sure that’s going to assuage all the animus out there. I’ve covered the Lions for 13 seasons and I can’t remember one year when fans were this upset this fast. I moderated the Freep.com live blog for Sunday’s game, and the overwhelming negativity astounded me. Normally, there’s a fair number of Honolulu Bluesky fans out there who remain hopeful no matter what. Sunday was very different. Yes, the Lions were blown out in the season opener, but usually fans believe in a rebound week. Not Sunday.
After the game, Twitter user @WorldofIsaac wrote: “THIS LIONS SEASON IS GONNA BE SOME HOT TRASH Y’ALL”
One reader emailed me: “I’d love to hear (general manager Bob) Quinn explain why fans should have any patience with the new regime, him included, when he just canned the previous coach (2 playoff appearances in 4 seasons) for underachieving.”
And I thought I was supposed to be the negative one.
But this is the crux of Patricia’s problem. He and Quinn promised things would be better than they were under Jim Caldwell, who went 9-7 last year and made the playoffs twice. They promised improvement under the Patriot Way.
Granted, Patricia and Quinn didn’t put a deadline on that improvement. But fans don’t care about deadlines and patience. All they know is they traded in their boring, dependable Ford Taurus for a 1968 Ford Mustang two dudes from a fancy dealership promised they’re going to get around to restoring one of these days.
Fans aren’t stupid. They can read a schedule. Sunday night, the Lions play the New England Patriots on national TV. The next week, it’s on to Dallas. The week after, Green Bay comes to town. The week after that, everyone gets fired during the bye. Kidding. (Sort of.)
I wrote after Sunday’s 30-27 loss at San Francisco the Lions would start 0-5. Bestcase scenario, Matthew Stafford gets confused, think he’s still playing for the Highland Park Scots, they beat Dallas and start 1-4. Not a whole lot better, is it?
On Sunday night, NBC quoted a statistic that said since the NFL realigned its divisions in 2002, 11 per cent of teams that started 0-2 have made the playoffs. I asked Patricia on Monday about the odds facing his team, and why fans should remain encouraged.
“I think we’re trying to get better, we’re trying to improve, we have a lot of work to do, we know that,” he said. “We’re up for the task.
“I can’t predict the future. I can’t tell you what’s going to happen two months from now. But what we have to do right now is fix the mistakes that we made yesterday and get ready to play another game this week.”
Coaches have to be myopic, or at least they pretend to be publicly. But sports writers think about the past, present and future and every possible hypothetical situation the way cows chew their cud. It’s disgusting, but necessary.
So the best I can offer you is this: Yes, the playoffs are out of the question for the Lions, statistically or otherwise. But, after flatlining against the New York Jets, they at least showed a pulse in San Francisco.