Carlos Monarrez | Detroit Free Press

Detroit Free Press

Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press

Matthew Stafford made an enormous mistake this week.

In fact, the Detroit Lions quarterback might have compromised the team’s coaching search and cost general manager Bob Quinn the candidate he really wants.

Stafford said Monday, when coach Jim Caldwell was fired and the team embarked on a mission to find his replacement, that he wanted to keep offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter around.

“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.”

Stafford, who had a career-best 99.3 passer rating this season, also said he would be “absolutely all for” taking part in coaching interviews. Two hours after Stafford spoke, Quinn quashed that idea and said, “No players will be involved in the interview process.”

“I’m trying to find the best head coach,” he said, “and if the best head coach wants to keep that going, then that’s something we can talk about.”

This amounts to Stafford having poisoned the well by lobbying for Cooter. Any coaching candidate Quinn interviews will know the franchise quarterback has stated his preference. A new coach would feel from the outset that his choice for an offensive coordinator would be someone Stafford doesn’t prefer.

I really hope Quinn means what he said about no players being involved in the interview process. I hope he disregards anything Stafford said and doesn’t ask any candidate how he would feel about keeping Cooter.

Quinn said he would give his new coach autonomy to pick his own staff. But he could give him autonomy and still gently probe his thoughts about keeping Cooter. Any candidate worth his salt should be offended by this question. But if a candidate is desperate enough, he will fold and say, “Sure! Jim Bob’s awesome! Where do I sign?”

Two years ago, owner Martha Ford sabotaged Quinn’s own autonomy when she said “I love Jim Caldwell” at Quinn’s introductory news conference following Caldwell’s disastrous 2015 season. Quinn should have fired Caldwell then and started pursuing his own vision with his own coach. But a rookie GM wasn’t going to fire the coach his owner just said she loved. So Quinn’s vision was delayed two years.

More on coaching search:

Hey, two years, 60 years. What’s the difference? Right, Lions fans?

And now Stafford wants to delay that vision further by keeping Cooter, who himself has given Stafford lots of autonomy. I get that Stafford doesn’t want his fourth coordinator in 10 years and he has gotten better during Cooter’s time. But Stafford has to stay out of this completely.

Maybe if Stafford was a sure-fire Hall of Famer, if he was on the verge of leaving in free agency, and if the Lions had an offense that was a well-oiled machine, then it would make sense for a new coach to keep the offensive coordinator in place.

But that’s nowhere close to the situation. Stafford essentially doesn’t want a new boss and he doesn’t want to adapt to any more corny methods like the ladder cam.

We have to remember something important to this interview process. The Lions won’t be interviewing the best candidates as much as those candidates will be interviewing the Lions.

Someone like New England Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia likely will have his pick from several teams. He’s going to pick the best situation. As much as Stafford would be considered an asset, if someone like Patricia perceives Stafford to be meddlesome, it would be very easy for him to look elsewhere.

If a candidate asks Quinn about Stafford’s comments regarding Cooter or wanting to be involved in the search, Quinn either has to contradict Stafford or go back on his own word and side with Stafford. It’s a no-win situation for Quinn.

This could be a franchise-defining moment for the Lions, and I think Stafford knows that. He’s about to turn 30 next month, he’s helped get two coaches fired and knows he probably can’t get a third coach fired and expect another huge contract when he’s 33 or 34.

I hope Quinn gets an honest and sincere chance to hire the coach he really wants. We’ll never know which coach he truly preferred because teams always pretend their final choice was their first choice. But if the Lions’ new coach keeps Cooter around, we’ll have a pretty good idea Stafford wields a lot more power in the organization than anyone realizes.