This is an opinion piece from MLive.com's Kyle Meinke.

DETROIT -- The Lions won more often under Jim Caldwell than any other coach in the Super Bowl era. And then they fired him.

With a move like that, the message was clear. Being kinda good is no longer good enough.

"I just thought we were middle of the road," GM Bob Quinn told WJR at the outset of camp. "Middle of the road was kind of OK here."

So Caldwell was out, and Matt Patricia was in. The bar was raised. And by that standard, or any other, it's hard to call the start of his tenure anything other than an unmitigated disaster.

The Lions were worked over in the preseason, and finished 1-3. They cautioned not to be concerned, because, hey, it's just the preseason. But then every one of those problems came back Monday night as the Lions were undressed 48-17 on their own turf against the New York Jets.

They were booed lustfully and repeatedly in Patricia's debut. By the end of the game, the only cheers that could be heard were "J-E-T-S! JETS! JETS! JETS!" After so many months of anticipation, of preparation, this was simply embarrassing.

How does this happen? Patricia is supposed to be some kind of coaching savant, right? Remember all the stories about his studies in aeronautical engineering? About him literally sleeping on a cot in his office because he prepared so much?

Well, he had months to prepare for a middling Jets team that had a 28th-ranked offense last year, and was starting 21-year-old Sam Darnold at quarterback this year. And they damn near let New York hang a 50-spot on them.

How unprecedented is this? Darnold became the first quarterback to win by at least 31 points in his first career start since Tom Brady did it in 2001. Yep, the Lions just made a rookie look like Tom Brady.

But this wasn't just a matter of defense. It was a matter of special teams, where Detroit missed a field goal and allowed a punt return for a touchdown. And it was even a matter offense, supposedly its strength.

The Lions brought back basically every notable player, plus added two new backs to the backfield and overhauled the blocking up front. Then they went out there and lost 2 yards in the first quarter of the season. They ran six plays in all, achieving one first down -- thanks only to a Jets penalty.

That revamped rushing attack? LeGarrette Blount started the game, then finished with -- get this! -- minus-3 yards on four carries. As a team, the Lions finished with 39 yards on the ground and averaged 2.8 yards a pop. Which means it took them exactly one week to fall all the way back into -- wait for it! -- last place in the NFL in rushing.

And then there was Matthew Stafford, the 10th-year veteran quarterback who is the heart of this team. He went out there on national TV and had his worst-rated game since 2012. He threw four picks in all, a personal high since 2013.

New York bottled up Detroit's offense so well, you'd almost think they knew which plays were coming. And as it turns out, that's exactly what they claimed after the game.

"We were calling out their plays as he was getting up to the line," Darron Lee said.

Huh. Interesting. Lee, as you'll recall, is the guy who picked off Stafford's third-and-1 pass and returned it for a touchdown in the third quarter. Turns out, it was a play New York says it watched all week, and knew it was coming based on Stafford's signals at the line of scrimmage.

"I told him, 'Here it comes,'" Jamal Adams told reporters after the game. "Their offense paints a picture. They give us little tips."

How is this possible? Listen, it's a season opener of a new regime. Nobody expects the Lions to be operating at full capacity or anything. Not yet. But they were laughed out of their own building, which is on coaching. And telegraphing plays like this? In an opener? When you literally have months to disguise what you're trying to do? That's squarely on coaching.

Matt Patricia was supposed to be the guy who finally took the Lions to the next level. And, hey, that could definitely still happen. Nobody's drawing any sweeping conclusions here, other than this: The Lions sucked in the preseason. They sucked in the opener. And now they got a short week to figure out how not to suck in San Francisco.

So much for raising the bar.