Matt Patricia’s tenure as head coach of the Lions did not last long. It was also an overwhelming disappointment.
Detroit won 13 games in just under three years before cutting Patricia loose in the middle of the 2020 NFL season. They lost 29 games and tied once during that same timeframe.
Hiring New England’s defensive coordinator of six years did not go well for one of the worst franchises in football. The organization somehow regressed under Matt Patricia, who rubbed quite a few people the wrong way during his two-plus seasons in Michigan.
Multiple players who clashed with Patricia while working under the same roof danced on his grave after he was fired. Darius Slay was the most vocal and said that the head coach “came in like he was just bigger and better than all of us,” among other things. His entire tenure was a disaster.
He was brash and profane.
Former NFL offensive tackle Tyrell Crosby played for the Lions from 2018-2022. Patricia was his head coach for the entirety of his rookie and sophomore seasons.
Following a loss to Seattle on Oct. 28, 2018, Crosby decided to keep track of his head coach’s language. Every F-bomb was marked with a tally. Over the course of a 49-minute long meeting on the Monday after losing the Seahawks, Patricia dropped the F-word 374 times.
That’s an average of 7.6 per minute, which is wild but actually not that shocking based on reports out of Detroit at the time. Crosby said that his decision to keep track sparked quite the reaction amongst the meeting room.
One of my teammates looked over while I was tallying and laughed because he knew what I was doing 😂
— @TyrellCrosby on X
To make it even crazier, it is possible that Crosby missed an F-bomb or two. He got a late start!
Patricia, who returned to the Patriots in 2021 and 2022, spent last season as a senior defensive assistant for the Eagles last season. His approach to the job in Philadelphia reportedly softened some, and even Slay was able to mend his relationship with the man he once abhorred.
It sounds like his 7.6 F-words per minute pace has slowed some since his time with the Lions.