Former Detroit Lions safety Glover Quin said Wednesday on "The Pat McAfee Show" that he doesn't know whether his former team will be able to overcome its current situation at 3-8-1 and questioned how much the team might fight for coach Matt Patricia.
"Right now, they're struggling," Quin said. "It's not a great situation and it's not a situation where, like, I don't know if they can fight out of it right now because I don't know if the love and the like for Patricia's style makes the players want to fight out of it."
Quin spent the last six seasons of his career with Detroit before retiring this summer after the Lions released him in February. He had initially asked to be released after the 2017 season, but Detroit kept him so he played one season under Patricia before being let go.
During his time with Detroit, Quin was one of the more popular and respected players in the locker room, often having a correct pulse on the state of the franchise as a defensive leader and captain. Quin has not been around the Lions much this season but maintains connections with players in Detroit.
He assessed the Lions, having lost five straight games and playing a third-string quarterback, and said Detroit might be at the point where "let's just get this thing over with."
"I feel bad for 'em because I know how much they put into it, how much effort they put into it," Quin said. "You know guys put so much into it and to have a season basically over like that, it's so difficult. I just don't know. They're in a bad spot right now."
Quin did, though, call Patricia "a very nice guy."
When asked about Quin's comments -- he's the third former Lions player to be publicly critical of the organization in the past week, but the first to have played under Patricia -- the coach said he had not heard what Quin said.
"I think our guys fight really hard. I don't think there's any question about that whatsoever," Patricia said. "I really appreciate this group. I appreciate how hard they work. I think everybody that's in the building right now knows those guys are engaged. They are working as hard as they can to get better and we're a few plays away from really being a lot different right now.
"But the fact is we've got to make those plays. That's really the bottom line, and whether we talk about it all the time, whether it's coaching or playing, we're just going to keep fighting through that and get better and break through that as soon as we can."
Detroit has led at some point in all 12 games this season, but has been eliminated from playoff contention with a month left in the season. The Lions are guaranteed to have a second straight sub-.500 record.