The Detroit Lions lost their second game in a row on Sunday as they fell to the Tennessee Titans by a score of 46-25. While the team has already parted ways with head coach Matt Patricia, another coach found himself on the chopping block this week, as the Lions fired special teams coordinator Brayden Coombs on Monday. While it was somewhat of a puzzling decision, as there was no clear and obvious reason why Detroit felt the need to move on from Coombs now, a report published on Monday morning did shed some light on the situation.
According to The Detroit News, a team source said that "organizational frustration" had been brewing with Coombs for some time, "with a belief the coordinator was overly focused on self-promotion." The final straw was reportedly when he called a fourth-quarter fake punt without consulting other members of the coaching staff. Apparently, not all Lions players were even aware of the call, and the play failed to pick up a first down.
Check out the play, here:
The rogue fake punt call that reportedly got special teams coordinator Brayden Coombs fired. pic.twitter.com/Qufky7ltgo
— Jordan Dajani (@JordanDajani) December 21, 2020
The Lions were down 14 points in the fourth quarter when Coombs took it upon himself to try to get some momentum for his team, but it ended up just giving the Titans great field position and an easy opportunity to extend the lead to 21 points.
Coombs is the son of Ohio State defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs, who served as the defensive backs coach for the Titans last year. The younger Coombs was in his first season as the special teams coordinator for the Lions, and began his coaching career with the Cincinnati Bengals -- who he interned with in 2009. Coombs then worked his way up to coaching assistant and assistant special teams coach before making the move to Detroit.
