Matt Patricia, the likely soon-to-be-head-coach of the Detroit Lions, currently cuts an unmistakable figure as he prowls the sidelines for the New England Patriots, sporting a backward baseball cap, a pencil behind one ear and an imposing, five-years-in-the-mountains beard.

Detroit’s going to want to know all it can about its newest darling, so here we present a look at Patricia without the beard:

Let's just say we are all hoping he keeps the beard pic.twitter.com/R0nlMz39f3 — Aaron Thompson (@a_a_ron_att) January 16, 2018





Looks like a kindly fellow, doesn’t he? That photo’s undated but apparently from around 2004, when he was first with the Patriots but before he started sporting a goatee.

And, as you can see, the goatee proved to be nothing but a gateway drug for an incredibly luscious beard:

View photos The progression of Matt Patricia’s beard from 2004-18 is magnificent. (Getty) More

As for why he wears the beard? Friends and former teammates have theories. “He’ll probably kill me, but he’s got dimples,” Travis Krol, a former roommate, told the Detroit Free Press. “You can’t be a coach of men with dimples, so I think he covers it up with the beard.”

“I don’t know the story behind the beard, how it ever came to fruition,” former Patriots linebacker Niko Koutouvides told the Free Press. “I just thought because he was in his [expletive] office probably day in, day out, that thing just started growing and took a life of its own and he was like, ‘You know what, I kind of like this thing, let’s keep it going.'”

So there you go. Detroit, you have your newest Halloween costume idea ready to go.

View photos Matt Patricia with Matt Patricia’s beard. (Getty) More

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

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