Patience, she says.
You gotta have patience.
And you know what? I’m so freakin’ sick of it.
“Our rebuild is hard but we really believe in our process,” Detroit Lions owner Sheila Hamp said Wednesday in a surprise session with reporters.
And by “process,” I can only assume that she means:
1. Drafting injured players;
2. Not upgrading the defense;
3. Hanging everything on a turnover-prone QB;
4. Relying on an injury-prone running back;
5. And losing four straight with a coach who is a great guy, and a wonderful quote, but hasn’t proved he can win a close game.
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Yep, other than that, everything is peachy.
“We really believe in, ‘We’re going to turn this thing around the right way through the draft,’ ” she said. “It requires patience.”
Ugh, that word again. To ask the Lions’ fan base — out of any fan base in the country — for patience seems cruel and unusual, considering there is so little tangible reason for hope.
“It’s frustrating,” she said. “Am I frustrated? Absolutely. … But I think we really are making progress.”
Hmm. Where in the world does she see progress?
We’ve been here before? Well, actually …
In the long history of the hapless Lions, Hamp is asking for patience as the team plunges to a historic low.
They are on pace to finish last in their division for the fifth straight year.
Do you know how many times that has happened in franchise history?
Uh, never.
I mean, not even Matt Millen had that kind of sustained ineptitude, which is saying something.
To be fair, the current regime is responsible for only half of this debacle.
“This was a huge teardown and then turnaround, and we really — we’re only a third of the way through the season,” she said.
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Let me remind you of something.
On Nov. 28, 2020, the Ford family fired Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia.
“You know, 10 days ago, we looked like we had a good chance to be playoff-bound,” Hamp said at the time.
That admission has always bothered me.
The Fords made a massive mistake by giving Quinn and Patricia a third season and one more draft, putting them into a win-now situation, and they took a cornerback (Jeff Okudah) instead of a quarterback with that No. 3 overall pick. That decision alone has set back this franchise years.
Midway through Year 3 of Quinn/Patricia, Hamp thought the Lions were playoff-bound. Because, I’m sure, that’s what she was being sold.
Then, bam. She realized they weren’t. So she fired folks, and suddenly, this organization she thought was headed to the playoffs was instead hurtling through a complete “teardown.”
So I’m sorry if I don’t blindly trust her ability to judge a rebuild.
“We’re only a third of the way through the season,” she said. “We’ve got 11 more games to go, so I just don’t want to ruin it — push the panic button and give up the ship because I think we’ve got the right people in place to pull this off, and I truly believe that.”
Indeed. I don’t think anybody should be fired right now either.
Nobody thought this was going to be a playoff team. But come on, this can’t be viewed as progress.
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By just about every measure, this team is awful.
It has the worst scoring defense in the league. It ranks 30th in turnover margin. The Lions have a point differential of minus-8 per game. In fact, this is the third straight year the Lions have lost by an average of at least eight points. How many times has that happened in Lions history? Never!
Yes, this turnover-prone offense is eighth in the NFL in scoring — mainly, because so much draft capital and money is invested in that offense. And what has it gotten them? One win.
When you think about it, the team’s biggest strength — the offensive line — was mainly built by Quinn and Patricia.
So why does she have confidence in Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell?
“I really have confidence in the process we went through in the first place when we hired Brad and Dan,” she said. “It was extremely thorough, and we really believe we’ve come up with the right people.”
So she is basing her hope and asking for patience because she trusts the interview process? That’s what she is putting her faith in? Not the results?
That’s like watching somebody burning a meal and then saying: Yeah, but this chef had great credentials and we did a thorough job in the hiring process.
Faith in what?
Only there’s a teensy problem.
Campbell has yet to prove that he can win a close game.
In games decided by four points or less during his tenure, the Lions are 1-7-1. The one win? It came against the Vikings in 2021 when the Lions exploded to a 20-6 halftime lead and barely held on for the 29-27 victory. That lone win doesn’t exactly generate confidence.
Patricia’s record when he was fired was 13-29-1 (.314).
Campbell is 4-18-1 (.196) in Detroit. He would have to win nine of his next 20 games, just to equal Patricia.
“The positives are the way we started this season with the offense obviously,” Hamp said. “In any turnaround, there’s going to be ups and downs. It’s not going to be smooth.”
Listen, I’m not calling for them to be fired right now. They deserve a chance to turn this around. And, I suppose, there is time left to show progress.
But I just hate everything about this situation. It feels so familiar.
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Hamp just gave Campbell and Holmes a free pass, telling everybody to be patient, just as she brought back Quinn and Patricia for one final disaster. But there is one other element that isn’t being discussed.
At what point does Holmes say: “Man, I didn’t hire Campbell. You did. Give me a shot to hire my own guy.”
Interestingly, Hamp stopped short of endorsing Campbell and Holmes long-term. When asked if Campbell and Holmes’ jobs are safe no matter how the Lions finish this season, she said, “I believe in the leadership.”
Which is not exactly answering the question. Because leadership could be viewed as Holmes alone. Or maybe, it’s both of them.
Year 3, I suppose, can play out three ways:
1. Campbell returns and Hamp demands to see progress, just like she told Patricia and Quinn in the same time frame. Needing to win now, the Lions fail to draft a QB — yes, we have seen this before.
2. Campbell returns and the Lions draft a quarterback, giving them another excuse. Another free pass. And it’s on to Year 4.
3. Campbell is fired and Holmes gets a chance to hire his own coach.
Enough with the words. Enough begging for patience. Just show us something.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff.
To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.