Detroit Lions owner Sheila Ford-Hamp made it a happy Thanksgiving weekend for long-suffering fans of the team on Saturday. Ford-Hamp fired GM Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia after another embarrassing loss, this one on Thursday to a Texans team that already cleaned house earlier this season.
[lawrence-related id=54961]
The new owner, who took over in December for her mother, Martha Ford, earned some goodwill with the move. And in her press conference announcing the firings, Ford-Hamp struck a lot of high notes that should engender some confidence that the team will head in the right direction.
In her first time speaking in public since taking over the team, Ford-Hamp admitted the ugly losses in the last two weeks forced her to change her mind on keeping the Quinn/Patricia combination.
“Honestly, yes,” Ford-Hamp said when asked if the losses to Carolina and Houston in a span of four days made the difference. “Ten days ago, we looked like we had a good chance to be playoff bound. Both of those games were extremely disappointing. It just seemed like the path going forward wasn’t what we wanted it to be. So yes, we thought this was a good time to make the change.”
She acknowledged her mandate of “meaningful games in December” she gave Quinn and Patricia when she took over meant something to her.
“I meant what I said last December, and I still mean it. So yes, things were not going well, it was not what we wanted. We were hoping to be playoff bound – I guess we still have a slight mathematical chance. But things were just not seeming to go in the right way.”
That shows Ford-Hamp is true to her word. She didn’t accept the excuses of the weird pandemic season or the myriad injuries all over the Lions roster. It also demonstrates Ford-Hamp is aware of the fan perception of the product of her team. Those are positives for the fans that we all needed to hear.
She didn’t bite on any questions about who she has in mind or what direction the team will turn in the hiring process. But she did handle the tricky question of Matthew Stafford’s future with the team with open-ended answers.
“Well since I’m not the coach, I’m probably not the right person to ask that question to. So, we’ll see what the new coach has to say,” Ford-Hamp said of the quarterback.
The follow-up question covered the same basic theme, and Ford-Hamp stayed true to her answer.
“I think he’s (an) extremely talented young man, and he’s tough as nails. It’s been tough for him. Again, I think (the new) coach will make that decision.”
She indicated, as did team president Rod Wood, that the team would be open to using outside resources to help find the replacements. Wood did note that the Lions have not yet engaged with any search firm, dispelling a rumor they already had.
Ford-Hamp also showed some self-awareness in respect to the fans who believe that the ownership has been the fundamental root of all the team’s problems over the last few decades.
“Well, again, hindsight is 20-20. Yes, mistakes have been made,” she said without pandering. “I’ll be the first one to admit when I’m making mistakes, too. I’ll look at that, but I really would rather look forward and try to really dig into what’s in front of me and make this hopefully a homerun for us. But it’s going to be a lot of work. Rod (Wood) and I are rolling up our sleeves already and we’re going to get to work immediately.”
That’s good. There’s a lot of work to be done and the Lions need to get it right in Mrs. Ford-Hamp’s first hire.
