Detroit Lions hiring Matt Patricia 'done' deal; will Cooter be his OC?

With Matt Patricia a “done” deal as their next head coach — or as close to being done as it can get with the New England Patriots still playing, a person familiar with the search told the Free Press late Tuesday — the next question the Detroit Lions have to answer is who will be their offensive and defensive coordinators.

And the league-wide perception is that Patricia likely will keep Jim Bob Cooter to run his offense.

General manager Bob Quinn said at the outset of the search that his new coach will have full control over his staff.

Trending Lions news:

►The story behind Patricia's beard: 'The people of America are used to it'

►Top 25 free agents in 2018: Which players may interest Lions?

►Migrating South: Lions DL coach Kris Kocurek leaving for Dolphins

Still, it’s clear that the Lions are happy with the progress quarterback Matthew Stafford has made under Cooter, and the development of the offense in Cooter’s 2½ seasons as coordinator.

CBS analyst Tony Romo said in a teleconference Tuesday a Patricia-Cooter pairing would be “good” for the Lions, and he said there are worthwhile benefits to keeping the same offensive system in place.

“A quarterback who gets to keep his system is important, as long as the system is pretty good,” Romo said. "If the system is good, then you get to get deeper into the offense. The first year or two, you’re on Level 1, 2 or 3, and as you get into that four, five, six years with somebody, you get to go to that next level and the offense, the quarterback has more control. It’s very hard to fool people at the line of scrimmage, so continuity matters. At the same time, you have to have somebody who’s always trying to allow you to have success schematically.

“I think if that’s the route it goes, I think they did a good job.”

Romo had one of the best passing seasons of his career in 2011, when Jason Garrett was elevated from offensive coordinator to head coach.

Garrett started calling plays for the Dallas Cowboys in 2007 under Wade Phillips, and kept those duties when he took over as interim coach after Phillips was fired late in the 2010 season.

Stafford said after this season he hoped the Lions would retain Cooter as offensive coordinator.

"Jim Bob and I have a great relationship and ever since he’s had the opportunity to take the reins, this offense has moved in the right direction in my opinion," Stafford said. "I feel like I’m playing some of the best football of my career, so I would love to have the opportunity to keep working with him. He’s been good for us and good for me."

More Lions:

►Stafford's lobbying could compromise Lions' coaching search

►Ex-Michigan LB Pierre Woods: Patricia will make Lions 'champions'

►2018 NFL mock draft roundup: Who will Lions pick at No. 20?

In 41 games with Cooter as his play caller, Stafford has completed 66.3 percent of his passes and averaged more than 272 yards passing per game. In the 6½ seasons before Cooter took over as coordinator, Stafford completed 60.1 percent of his passes.

The Lions finished seventh in the NFL in scoring offense this season at 25.6 points per game and opened up a downfield passing game that was dormant in Cooter's only other full season as coordinator in 2016.

They also were one of the slowest starting teams in the NFL and had the league’s worst rushing offense, though Romo and fellow CBS analyst Bill Cowher said a change in offensive line coach should help the run offense.

The Lions fired offensive line coach Ron Prince along with head coach Jim Caldwell after the season and will let Patricia pick Prince's replacement.

"I think one of the most underrated aspects that people don’t realize in the NFL is that really most of the running game flows through the O-line coach,” Romo said. “In a lot of certain offenses, he’s the guy who’s setting the offensive run-game plan throughout the week, and then he morphs with the coordinator and they kind of mix it together. The coordinator calls the plays, but the O-line coach is the one who’s deciding on what we’re going to live in, what kind of runs we’re going to live in this week. So I think that’s a very important aspect of hiring or firing people."

Cowher said a change in scheme up front should help Stafford take fewer hits as well.

Stafford was sacked a career-high 47 times this season.

"I agree with Tony,” Cowher said. “The other element is pass protection, that they have to work hand in hand from a pass protection standpoint, so I would think Jim Bob Cooter will have a lot to say with who the offensive line coach is, and should have input from that regards because he’s keeping the same offense, he knows what he would want in a line coach, and certainly from the standpoint of what he kind of input can a new line coach maybe even give to him in terms of some other new ideas. So it’s a very important hire, no question."

►More: What does Patricia look like without a beard? We found a photo

►Why does Patricia keep a pencil in his ear?

WATCH: Facebook Live video with Dave Birkett, Sunday night

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!