Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell will serve as Lions interim coach for final five games

With Matt Patricia fired on Saturday, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell will serve as the Lions' interim coach the final five games of the 2020 season.

Bevell joined the Lions in 2019 after a season out of the NFL. Previously he spent seven seasons as the Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator and five years in that same role with the Minnesota Vikings prior to that. 

More: After three disastrous seasons, Lions fire GM Bob Quinn, coach Matt Patricia

In his first season with the Lions, Bevell had Detroit's offense humming with quarterback Matthew Stafford putting together the best half-season of his career. But the wheels came off after Stafford suffered a season-ending back injury. 

This year, the Lions' offense hasn't been nearly as potent, ranking in the middle of the pack in both yardage and scoring. That includes being shut out by the Carolina Panthers earlier this month, the first time the team failed to score in a game since 2009.

Still, the Lions have made noticeable improvements to their offensive line and ground game this season, but injuries, particularly with star receiver Kenny Golladay, have prohibited the unit from reaching its full potential.  

Recently, Bevell talked about his long-standing desire to be a head coach. 

"Well, you know, I've been chasing it for a while," Bevell said. "I think the most important thing for me to do is, I always say this, is do the job that I have right now the best to my abilities and let all that other stuff take care of itself. I think if you're doing a good job, it gets seen."

And what makes a good coach? Well, that's simple, according to Bevell. 

"Well, the easiest thing is winning," he said. "All of us, that's what we're all judged on is how much we win. There's other things to me that are going to go into that, in terms of the relationship that he has with his players, the discipline that he has, those types of things, but ultimately, we're all judged by winning. 

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter: justin_rogers