Darrell Bevell knows he wouldn't be here without Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia. So last week he made sure to publicly thank the two men who brought him to Detroit and set the stage for his first head-coaching gig in the NFL.
"Wouldn’t be here without Coach Patricia and Bob Quinn, for them reaching out to me a year-and-a-half ago to come in here and be the offensive coordinator," Bevell said in his first press conference as Lions interim head coach. "So appreciative to them, and Coach Patricia, the relationship that I was able to build with him. I have to thank them."
Bevell had been out of coaching for a year when the Lions hired him last offseason. That was Patricia's decision, and it paid off for Detroit in 2019. The offense was humming before Matthew Stafford went down with an injury. And Stafford was humming again on Sunday as the Lions took down the Bears in Bevell's first game as head coach.
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"It was truly an amazing day," Bevell said Monday afternoon. "I don’t know if I could have written the script any better, for the challenges we faced in the game and how the guys played."
Bevell's phone was blowing up after the win, congratulatory texts and calls flowing in from every direction. Meanwhile, all he wanted to do was "talk to my wife." Asked if he received a text from Patricia, Bevell said he did not. But those who did reach out provided the perfect cap to the perfect day.
"The thing that made me the proudest was the people sending me texts and phone calls just talked about what it looked like on TV and how much fun the guys were having and how much energy they had. And that was the main goal for me," Bevell said. "I thought if I could get those guys playing for the love of the game and like they were 10-year-old kids again, it would make an impact.
"For them to be able to give me that feedback and say, 'Man I can’t believe what those guys looked like, they looked like they were having a great time, they were playing hard,' that was big for me."
Bevell may hear from Patricia in time. They worked alongside each other for nearly two years and by all accounts had a good relationship.
"I love Coach Patricia, I love Bob," Bevell said last week. "They brought me in here, and I’m so grateful for them."
That Bevell didn't hear from him on Sunday couldn't dull the shine of his first win as a head coach.