Bob Quinn confident Matt Patricia-led Lions can build off their foundation

Allen Park — When Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn fired coach Jim Caldwell, he infamously stated the team's 9-7 records the previous two seasons weren't good enough. That the franchise's standards were higher. 

Two years later, Quinn's hand-picked coach, Matt Patricia, completed his second season on a nine-game losing streak and a 3-12-1 record. 

Ultimately, ownership decided Quinn and Patricia would be back in 2020. It's an opportunity the general manager is grateful for and confident he'll be able to maximize. 

"I feel very confident in my abilities," Quinn said. "I’m very thankful to the Ford family to be here from 2016 on. I feel that with myself in the GM seat and Coach Patricia as the head coach, I think we’re going to get this thing turned around."

Quinn didn't offer specifics on how that turnaround would take place, but like Patricia has done throughout the end of the season, the GM highlighted the foundation the two have built together.

"Yeah, because you look at the whole body of work, and there are not enough wins," Quinn said. "There are not, and that’s the bottom line in this business. But in terms of talking to Mrs. Ford and her family, it’s just the foundation that’s here and the good things that have happened, even though they have not equated to wins and losses, to scrap that and start from scratch would be taking a step back."

Quinn emphasized that point when asked why Patricia deserved a third season after amassing a 9-22-1 record during his two seasons at the helm. 

"I think we don’t want to bring it down to the basement again and start the foundation again," Quinn said. "That’s the answer.”

Of course, that begs the question, how much lower can the Lions go? Only two teams finished with a worse record in 2019, and one of those two beat the Lions head-to-head. 

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @Justin_Rogers