Detroit Lions' Inability to Close Continues to Haunt Matt Patricia

Detroit Lions still have not found the winning formula to close games out in the fourth quarter.

Stop me if you've heard this one before ... the Lions blew a fourth-quarter lead. 

For the second straight year, Detroit did it in its season-opening contest, too. 

Last year, it came in the desert against the Arizona Cardinals, when the Lions' defense collapsed down the stretch, allowing the Cardinals to force overtime. 

It resulted in a disappointing 27-27 tie for Detroit head coach Matt Patricia & Co. 

Fast-forward to Sunday, and the Lions endured an all-too-familiar experience. 

They blew a 23-6 fourth-quarter lead to the Chicago Bears, marking the eighth time they've squandered a final quarter advantage since the start of the 2019 campaign. 

And to little surprise, it was the defense that cost them once again. 

Patricia's defense allowed 21 unanswered points in the final quarter -- a troubling stat that is highly reminiscent of a defense that frequently faltered down the stretch a year ago. 

Detroit 12th-year passer Matthew Stafford also didn't play great down the stretch, and threw a costly interception with 2:45 to play that led to the Bears' game-winning touchdown.

And rookie D'Andre Swift dropped a should've-been touchdown with six seconds to go that would've allowed the Lions to reclaim the lead. 

However, the defense still looks to be the franchise's Achilles' heel in the third season of Patricia -- at one time considered to be a defensive wiz -- being at the helm.

That shouldn't have been the case, though. 

Detroit general manager Bob Quinn made a concerted effort to "beef up" the defense this past offseason, with the draft pick of cornerback Jeff Okudah in the first round and free-agent pickups such as linebacker Jamie Collins and defensive back Desmond Trufant.

Okudah failed to suit up for the Week 1 contest Sunday, though, due to a hamstring injury. And Collins and Trufant both exited the game early -- Collins due to being ejected after making illegal contact with a referee and Trufant due to injury.

Head coach Matt Patricia and rookie running back D'Andre Swift / © Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

None of the above is reason enough, however, to make excuses for the defense falling apart late in the game.

Patricia's defense, when it counted the most, failed to get stops, and proved to once again be fraudulent.

And Stafford and the offense failed to close out the Bears when they had the chance to. 

It's something that Stafford believes can be rectified through improved late-game execution. 

"We just got to execute better," Stafford said Sunday in his postgame media session. "You know, when you look at it, that's the name of the game in the fourth quarter. We didn't do it enough last year. And we didn't do it obviously enough today." 

At the end of the day, even at the start of a new decade and with a new principal owner in Sheila Ford Hamp, the Lions are, in fact, the "Same Old Lions."