ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions announced they were parting with Jim Bob Cooter two days after last year’s finale.

More moves are coming this year, but Matt Patricia says he will take his time before pulling the trigger this time.

“Today’s a real important day for me, for the team, to make sure that we know as a team we understand where we are, where we need to go going forward and we’ll go back and evaluate everything just like we always do every year from that standpoint tomorrow and through the course of the week,” Patricia said on Monday afternoon. “We’ll see whatever we think is good or not good, or changes that we need to make, we’ll evaluate that as we go through the process. Same thing, we’ll always do what’s best for the team.”

General manager Bob Quinn said Patricia remains in total control of staffing decisions, although that doesn’t square with ownership’s mandate for a change in leadership. They agreed to bring back Quinn and Patricia for another season despite the fall to 3-12-1, but demanded change elsewhere.

That’s different for Patricia, who had full autonomy in hiring his current staff, and said he’ll consult Quinn with how to proceed.

“We’re always going to look at it and try to evaluate it and work together,” Patricia said.

The Fords never specified any names for the chopping block, but change seems afoot for a defense that coughed up 12 leads this season, ranked 31st overall and came within 64 yards of setting the franchise record for futility. Coordinator Paul Pasqualoni is widely expected to be let go.

“I think what I want to make sure that I do is go back and look at the complementary football game and see why we’re in some of those situations," Patricia said. "I think there’s a lot of things that go into those. Certainly, you want to look at one phase – that’s not good enough from that aspect of it. Yardage is not the one I look at more so than points – I think that’s the one that’s most important from that situation, and obviously critical drives. Let’s look at those and see what those look like. What’s happening in those situations, where we call ‘gotta-have-its,’ where we have to make a play and got to be in that situations where we’re going to have to come up with a stop or keep them out of field goal range or not let them score a touchdown. Those are all areas that defensively, you can look at specifically and say, ‘All right, how do we improve this?’”

While Pasqualoni is the coordinator, the defense was firmly Patricia’s. It was his players running his scheme, and by season’s end, doing so with his playcalling. That sparks all kinds of questions about exactly what kind of coordinator Detroit is seeking, or the quality of coordinator it will be able to land.

Asked if the coordinator position is even required, given he’s running the show, Patricia said: "“I don’t know, that’s a pretty general question. I think, again, we’ll evaluate everything as we go forward.”

The Lions waited until the Tuesday after last season to announce they wouldn’t renew Cooter’s contract. Quarterbacks coach George Godsey and running backs coach David Walker left the team in the following weeks.