Lions notes: Matt Patricia makes list of coaches on the hot seat

As the playoff picture gets a little clearer, there are a few teams that can pretty much be ruled out. One analyst took a look at which coaches should be a little nervous with Black Monday coming up.

John Clayton for The Washington Post determined Matt Patricia is one of eight coaches in the hot seat. Patricia came in fifth behind Doug Marrone of the Jacksonville Jaguars at 1, Jason Garrett of the Dallas Cowboys at 2, Dan Quinn of the Atlanta Falcons at 3 and Ron Rivera of the Carolina Panthers at 4.

He writes:

“The Thanksgiving loss to the Chicago Bears continued the Lions’ trend under Patricia of losing close games in the fourth quarter. They have seven one-possession losses this season. Maybe it’s unfair to fire a coach after two seasons when he’s missing Matthew Stafford at quarterback in the season half of this season. But Patricia is 9-18-1 since getting the job.”

Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer argues Matthew Stafford’s injury was what truly sent the season into the ditches, and Patricia deserves at least another year.

“I’d like to see the current Lions brass get another year in 2020 so we can see what it looks like with a healthier Matthew Stafford at quarterback. It’s hard to say whether or not that will wind up happening, because controlling owner Martha Ford doesn’t have a real track record yet on handling these decisions. But I think before Stafford’s injury there were signs that Matt Patricia’s program was turning the corner, which is easy to forget now.”

It seems like opinion is a little split. What do you think—is Patricia on the hot seat?

And onto your notes.

• The Ringer did an “exit interview” for the Lions as the team looks toward next year, highlighting what went right and what went wrong.

• Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press writes the Lions moved up to No. 6 in the draft after the Denver Broncos’ 23-20 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, keeping the “Play Like Dung for Chase Young” dream alive.

• This is nice.

• The latest in the Lions’ superfan series—Matt Noveskey, founder and producer at Orb Recording Studios in Austin, Texas and bass player in Blue October.

• This is a little old—posted five days ago—but if you haven’t seen it, you need to. Get to know the voice of the Lions — Dan Miller (he’s seriously awesome, very biased on that.)

• Kenny Golladay still getting the recognition he deserves. Despite who’s throwing the ball, he’s still producing — “quarterback agnostic,” as Matthew Berry calls it.