The Detroit Lions have fired head coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn, the club announced Sunday.
The move comes two days after a Thanksgiving Day loss to the Houston Texans, dropping the club to 4-7 on the season and 13-29-1 under Patricia.
Making matters worse for Patricia: he was hired to replace Jim Caldwell, who was fired in 2017 for the sin of going 9-7 in back-to-back seasons. Caldwell went 36-28 in four seasons, and his .563 winning percentage is the best of any full-time Lions head coach since 1956. The Lions have employed six coaches with sub .400 winning percentages over that span, a group that includes Patricia.
The next Lions coach will be the club's sixth over the past 20 seasons, continuing an endless churn of turnover for a franchise that owns two division titles since 1984.
In firing Quinn and Patricia, the Lions are breaking clean away from an attempt to duplicate Bill Belichick's program in New England. Quinn began his career as a player personnel assistant in New England in 2000 and rose the ranks to becoming the club's director of pro scouting before taking over in Detroit in 2016. His major move was to fire Caldwell and to hire Patricia, who had a similar rise through the Patriots organization. Patricia joined the Pats as an offensive assistant in 2004 before eventually becoming the team's defensive coordinator in 2012.
New England was the only NFL franchise both Quinn and Patricia had ever worked for before taking over in Detroit.
Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell will step in as the interim head coach.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.