Detroit Lions fans had biggest Week 3 confidence boost in the NFL The Detroit Lions had only beaten Tom Brady and the New England once since the turn of the millennium—a dominating 34-9 win at the Silverdome back in 2000 before the Patriots dynasty was a thing.So Sunday’s convincing win over the New England Patriots was somewhat of a rarity for the franchise
Jahlani Tavai Jersey 2019 , and whether it says more about the Lions or the Patriots is something we’ll likely find out several weeks from today. But for now, Lions fans are feeling it.Last week, Lions fans were only 30th in overall team confidence, according to SB Nation’s 32 individual team FanPulse polls. This week, no other fanbase saw a bigger jump in confidence. Take a look:Smile! Confidence jumped from a lowly 18 percent after Week 2’s loss to the 49ers to 66 percent this week. The only other teams that saw a similar jump this week were the Bills (43 to 73) the Giants (16 to 54), and Washington (36 to 74).Now let’s check in on the rest of the NFC North:Not even a disappointing tie could touch Vikings fans’ confidence through the first two weeks of the season. Then they got embarrassed on their home turf against the freakin Buffalo Bills and now they’re panicking in Minnesota like their kicker just lined up for a game-winning field goal.They’re not quite as reactionary over in Green Bay, but their confidence is hovering around 50 percent after losing to Washington. The Bears, on the other hand
Color Rush Jahlani Tavai Jersey , are humming along at the top of the NFC North... but their time will come.What’s perhaps most interesting about these polls is that despite the huge drop in confidence for both the Vikings and the Packers, both fanbases are adamant that their team is still the best in the division. And everyone but Lions fans have absolutely no confidence in Detroit:Yep, every fanbase outside of Detroit thinks they support the best team in the division. Is that a sign that Lions fans are more level-headed, or is Detroit truly the worst team in the North, and the fans kind of know it? Only time will really tell.Want to be a part of these weekly surveys? Join SB Nation’s FanPulse, a survey of fans across the NFL powered by SurveyMonkey. Each week, we send 32 polls to 100+ plugged in fans from each team. Lions fans, sign up HERE to join FanPulse. Lions General Manager Bob Quinn made a strong statement when he fired head coach Jim Caldwell at the end of last season: 9-7 isn’t good enough.Caldwell had gone 9-7 two consecutive years
Cheap Jahlani Tavai Jersey , and according to Quinn that simply wasn’t the kind of progress he wanted to see.“I wanted to take this team to the next level,” Quinn said.To take the Lions to the next level, Quinn hired his old friend Matt Patricia. Quinn worked for the Patriots from 2000 until the Lions hired him in 2016, and Patricia worked for the Patriots from 2004 until Quinn gave him the Lions job this year, so the two go back a long time. Patrica, according to Quinn, was the coach who would take the Lions to the next level.And now, after the Lions’ Thanksgiving loss to the Bears
Jahlani Tavai Jersey Womens , they’re 4-7. The Lions can finish no better than 9-7 this year, and given that they’ll be heavy underdogs against the Rams next week, they’re highly likely to clinch a worse record than the 9-7 mark that got Caldwell fired.So how safe is Patrica’s job now?The answer is probably that Patricia is safe. If Quinn were to fire Patricia after one year, Quinn would be admitting a huge mistake of his own, and that would be putting Quinn’s own job in jeopardy. The safest way for Quinn to keep his job is to hope that Patricia wins a few more games next year, when the Lions are playing a last-place schedule, and be able to claim his team is making progress.But the reality is, it’s not progress until Patricia improves on the 9-7 record of the team he inherited
Jahlani Tavai Detroit Lions Jersey , the 9-7 record that wasn’t good enough for Caldwell to keep his job. Patricia definitely isn’t going to do that this year, and he’s done little as a coach to inspire confidence he’ll do it next year, either.
