Chiefer Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 A question Ive seen floating around lately in the midst of another turrible Lions season(sorry Lions fans) Caldwell lead the Lions to two 9-7 records, always billed as mediocre he was canned for the next shiny Belicheck disciple. That was a dismal failure, and now Campbell while trying seems more like an Ed Orgeron-type. Should they have ever let Caldwell go? That two year stint is almost like a forgotten Lions golden era in retrospect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
43M Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 I mean, relative to what they have now...sure. But thats all hindsight. Most praised the Patricia hiring when it happened. Everything is 20/20 in hindsight. The question is, was Caldwell doing pretty good, or was Patricia just THAT bad? Its a little too early to judge Campbell, but its not looking great. However, he is still dealing with alot of Patricia's failures. Even if they stayed with Caldwell and never hired Patricia in 2018, I dont think Caldwell would be the coach there in 2021. He wouldve still likely got replaced a year or two later IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThatJaxxenGuy Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 (edited) Absolutely they should have. He had a 36-28 record and his last year there they went 9-7 and made playoffs. The season prior he had gone 11-5 and made playoffs. He was a good dude who was loved by players, and the Lions seemed like they could be building some degree of stability (which for the Detroit Lions is a milestone in and of itself) Matt Patricia was predictably a total failure of a head coach, with an ego to match the size of Belichicks resume and he lost the locker room and destroyed any semblance of team culture the Lions had. They’ve since been absolutely dreadful and trend to continue being dreadful for the foreseeable future. Edited November 20, 2021 by ThatJaxxenGuy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussie_eagle Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 Hard to know if Caldwell wouldn't have also been awful the past 4 or so years. There is a lack of talent in the squad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DontTazeMeBro Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 I think they should’ve just not hired Patricia. Just being better than Matt Patricia is setting the bar pretty low for yourself. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jameson_Neat Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 I'm old enough to remember when most laughed at the Lions for hiring Caldwell. And then praised them for hiring Patricia a few years later. Lions took a shot to reach the next level and it didn't work. No issue with firing Caldwell at the time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChazStandard Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 It was fairly callous to fire a coach after back-to-back play-off seasons. Yes, they lost, but it wasn't coaching that cost them the games. If they'd been a clear upgrade available, you could make the case, but even as a Patriots fan I could see hiring Patricia was a mistake. NEVER hire a BB coordinator as your coach. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntonChigurh Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 It was a fools errand at the time and even more now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenos Posted November 20, 2021 Share Posted November 20, 2021 5 hours ago, ChazStandard said: It was fairly callous to fire a coach after back-to-back play-off seasons. Yes, they lost, but it wasn't coaching that cost them the games. If they'd been a clear upgrade available, you could make the case, but even as a Patriots fan I could see hiring Patricia was a mistake. NEVER hire a BB coordinator as your coach. They missed the playoffs in 2017 despite having the same 9-7 record as in 2016. But yeah, even missing the playoffs they shouldn’t have fired Caldwell but Quinn wanted his Patriots buddy. In hindsight, never hire from the Patriots organization. That’s the moral of the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
y*so*blu Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 Caldwell was good but not great. He could get you a wild card playoff berth every other year or so but that was his ceiling. The Lions wanted more, so I had no issue with letting him go at the time. They just chose the wrong guy to succeed him. Next to what they're enduring this year, a 9-win season sounds pretty damn good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matts4313 Posted November 21, 2021 Share Posted November 21, 2021 On 11/20/2021 at 10:07 AM, BofaDeez54927 said: I'm old enough to remember when most laughed at the Lions for hiring Caldwell. So your this many years old Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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