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To call 2015 a roller coaster year for Jim Caldwell is a disservice. It was more like a bungee jump off the Sears Tower (I, now and forever, refuse to call it the Willis Tower). He entered the regular season with a 91 percent approval rating. It took just two months for that to plummet to 8 percent. After Joe Philbin was fired in early October, Caldwell was a 1-2 favorite to be next.
But by the season's end, the Lions placed right in the middle of the league with a respectable 7-9 record and had won back well over half of the fanbase.
It's been a strange year for Jim Caldwell: pic.twitter.com/FlYBPP9ECY
— Pride Of Detroit (@PrideOfDetroit) January 4, 2016
The general consensus was that Caldwell would be back for another trial year under whoever was the next general manager. But when the Lions decided to go with an extreme outsider with the hire, Caldwell's future was cast into a land of supreme doubt. Bob Quinn's mysteriously unknown background left fans sweating throughout the weekend,eagerly awaiting to hear the fate of a man they hated vigorously just three months ago.
Quinn finally broke the tension on Friday when the team announced that Caldwell would return to the Lions for his third season as head coach. Here is Quinn's full statement on the matter:
Here's the Bob Quinn's full statement on Jim Caldwell staying for a third year. pic.twitter.com/BkGhsS9nDk
— Josh Katzenstein (@jkatzenstein) January 15, 2016
With Caldwell locked in for the 2016 season, attention now shifts to the Lions' coordinators. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin was a hot name in other franchises' coaching searches, but now only the Titans job remains available. Jim Bob Cooter is likely safe in Detroit, for the time being.
Oh, and that Calvin Johnson decision is still looming somewhere in the depths of The Offseason.