Patricia not ready to make Lions coaching moves yet

The Detroit Lions, for now, are standing pat with their coaching staff, despite a 6-10 record in coach Matt Patricia's first season after finishing 9-7 under Jim Caldwell last year. Patricia addressed the media on Monday without any newsworthy developments to share concerning his coaches. "It's only fair at this point of the season for all aspects of the team -- players, coaches, personnel, all of it -- to allow the emotion of the season to come down and for everybody to just have that opportunity to clear your head," Patricia said. Patricia made that response when asked if Jim Bob Cooter will return as his offensive coordinator. Rumors have circulated that Cooter will not be back because he did not mesh well with Patricia and quarterback Matthew Stafford. Cooter is in the final year of his contract, so the Lions do not need to fire him. They can replace him. The Lions are not ready to make that announcement at this time. Patricia must also decide on other assistants. He built his staff late in the process after the Patriots played in last year's Super Bowl. Some of the staff is a mix of holdovers from Caldwell's staff, mostly on offense. Some of them were not employed in the NFL at the time. Patricia may also wait to make moves after noticing what other teams do with their personnel when firings taking place. "I don't think I need to put a hard time on it at this current moment," Patricia said. "Obviously, we have a timeline that we do have to address with it and things will come up when they come up. For the minute, I'm just going to take the rest of today and enjoy the new year, see my kids and my wife. Then we'll settle and we'll go from there." Detroit experienced more bad than good under Patricia. The Lions had six losses by double-digit margins and had an uncharacteristic 3-5 record at Ford Field. On the other hand, they upset the New England Patriots and swept the Green Bay Packers. "I think that we found out that we could run the ball consistently through the course of the season, which I know was a question, I would say, maybe last spring," Patricia said. "I would say that we showed that we can improve our run defense. We were able to stop the run as the season went on. I think we also showed that we understand the marriage of rush and coverage and how we affect the passing game, and we were able to get after the quarterback and get some production in the pass rush." --RG T.J. Lang, who has been on injured reserve since Nov. 14 because of a neck injury, said he wants to return to the Lions in 2019 but his future is uncertain. He ended up playing a career-low six games, a total of 282 snaps, due to brain, back, hip and neck injuries. --DE Mitchell Loewen was claimed off waivers from the New Orleans Saints on Dec. 28. Loewen played in only three games with the Saints from 2016 to this season. --WR Brandon Powell had 103 yards on six receptions at Green Bay on Sunday in his first career start. --WR Kenny Golladay was scratched from Sunday's game because of a chest injury. --S Glover Quin, an 11-year veteran, said after Sunday's game that he is contemplating retirement. He started every game this season and never showed up on the injury report.