Lions move on, fire coach, GM
Matt Patricia opened what turned out to be his final postgame news conference as head coach of the Detroit Lions on Thursday by thanking his wife and children for their support. Patricia probably knew what was coming. His boss, general manager Bob Quinn,
might not have expected the same fate at this point. The Lions announced Saturday that they have fired Patricia and Quinn, who hired the coach to replace Jim Caldwell, effectively ending the franchise’s attempt to replicate the success the men helped Bill Belichick
achieve with the New England Patriots. The Michigan franchise’s decadeslong attempt to win when it matters in the NFL will, once again, basically start over. Since Detroit won the 1957 NFL title, it has won only one playoff game — on Jan. 5, 1992. This season, the Lions (4-7) lost consecutive games for the third time when they collapsed in a 41-25 loss to the Houston Texans at home on Thursday. The disappointment in their traditional Thanksgiving game came after the Lions were shut out for the first time in 11 years in the previous game, on the road against the Carolina Panthers. Patricia was 13-29-1 in twoplus seasons, and Quinn’s mark fell 12 games under .500 over five seasons. Quinn, who was part of the Patriots’ personnel department for 16 years, was given his first shot to run an NFL front office in January 2016. He retained Caldwell, who led Detroit to the playoffs that year, but then fired him the next season after another 9-7 record wasn’t enough to earn a postseason berth. Quinn let Caldwell go with a 36-28 record over four seasons and an 0-2 mark in the playoffs. Patricia was on Belichick’s staff for 14 seasons, including six years as defensive coordinator, before Quinn gave him his first shot to be a head coach at any level.
SOCCER ›
Teams paid tribute to Diego Maradona on Saturday with moments of silence before European soccer games and a touching gesture from New Zealand’s rugby squad. The death of the soccer legend from Argentina was still being felt three days after he had a heart attack at the age of 60 outside Buenos Aires, where he had been recovering from a brain operation. Manchester City and Burnley players and coaches stood and applauded as a video showed Maradona’s famous solo run and goal for Argentina against England in the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup. The controversial “Hand of God” goal was earlier in the game. Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti struggled to hold his emotions together, making the sign of the cross and kissing his finger after a tribute before the team’s match against Leeds. Ancelotti played against Maradona during their time in Serie A and later went on to manage Napoli. Maradona led Napoli to its only two Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990 and is considered an icon in the city in southern Italy. This weekend, all Serie A players are taking the field wearing a black armband, and a minute’s silence was being observed before each kickoff with players lined up around the center circle. Outside of soccer, before a rugby Tri Nations test against Argentina, New Zealand captain Sam Cane presented an All Blacks jersey with Maradona’s name and No. 10. As the All Blacks lined up to perform the haka, Cane stepped out, walked toward midfield and laid down the jersey as the Argentina players stood arm in arm and watched.
BASKETBALL
› NBA players who test positive for the coronavirus this season may have to miss nearly two weeks in some instances before being allowed to return to the court, the league told its teams Saturday. That revelation was one of many in a 63,000-word document, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, that explained some of the health and safety protocols for the looming season. Preseason games begin Dec. 11 and regular-season contests start Dec. 22. The document still needs to be ratified by the league and the National Basketball Players Association, but it at least provides some sort of blueprint for the start of training camps in the coming days. All players who will be part of a training camp need to begin a testing program by Monday, and many were expected to start it Saturday.