DETROIT — So is Matt Patricia still in play for the Lions job or not? Because we are getting conflicting reports on whether or not he’ll be the next Lions head coach.

At the beginning of the week it looked like Patricia was a lock for the Lions job. Multiple reports were suggesting the Patriots defensive coordinator would finally leave New England and join Bob Quinn — who he has a “very good relationship” with — in Detroit.

Then came Wednesday, and it looked like Patricia was going to pass up the Lions to take over as the next New York Giants head coach. Pat Leonard of New York Daily News reported that “all signs are pointing to Matt Patricia as the man the Giants will hire as their next head coach.”

Well that was a complete 180. It seemed like Patricia was a lock for the Lions but then out of nowhere the Giants became the favorites. Well, it looks like the Lions are ACTUALLY still in play for Patricia.

Pro Football Weekly came out with a report on Thursday that suggested the Lions as the favorites to land Patricia as their next head coach.

“Perhaps the worst-kept secret in sports is that Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn’s first choice for the next head coach of the Lions is Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia,” Hub Arkush wrote. “According to our sources the only way that doesn’t happen is if Patricia chooses to stay with (Patriots head coach Bill) Belichick, which wouldn’t be at all surprising, or Quinn gets cold feet waiting on Patricia through a long playoff run should the Pats get to the Super Bowl while other staffs begin to fill.”

Well, if you trust Pro Football Weekly then you should be optimistic about Patricia taking over as the Lions head coach. However, it is odd that this report didn’t even mention the Giants — only one day after it came out that Patricia would most likely be their next head coach.

So what does this latest report mean? That we have no idea right now who will be the next head coach of the Lions. It really comes down to which of these anonymous sources you trust because right now there are conflicting reports.

Only time will tell if Patricia ends up joining Quinn in Detroit, but we do know one thing — we won’t truly know until the Patriots’ season is over. That could be anywhere between tomorrow and Feb. 4. So the longer we go with no rumors about other candidates, then the better the odds of Detroit landing Patricia.