With Darrell Bevell in quarantine, Lions will rely upon interim interim head coach vs. Bucs

“Obviously kind of disappointed with how this information came back to us,” Bevell said in a video news conference Thursday. “But it’s kind of the times we’re living in right now. And so it was not unexpected. Have to be ready for everything, be ready to adjust. And we’ll be working with that going into the game on Saturday.”

The Lions announced that wide receivers coach Robert Prince will serve as the head coach for Saturday’s game. He becomes, in effect, the interim interim head coach. Bevell was elevated from offensive coordinator to interim head coach to replace Matt Patricia, who was fired as the team’s head coach two days after a Thanksgiving Day loss at home to the Houston Texans dropped the Lions’ record to 4-7.

“It’s super disappointing,” Bevell said Thursday. “I’m frustrated. Ever since we started, I’ve tested negative. So there’s that whole part of it, like you don’t quite understand all the stuff that goes along with it. Then there’s that drive that you want to be there. … I want to be there for my guys. I feel like I’m letting them down by not being there. All of those emotions are things that you’re going through.”

Bevell said defensive coordinator Cory Undlin and all the team’s position coaches on defense — defensive line coach Bo Davis, linebackers coach Ty McKenzie and defensive backs coach Steve Gregory — are ineligible to coach Saturday under the protocols.

According to Bevell, he and the other coaches would have been eligible to coach if the game were on Sunday rather than Saturday. That suggests the contact occurred Monday and their five-day quarantines run Tuesday through Saturday. Bevell was asked during his video news conference whether the Lions had asked the NFL to postpone the game.

“I know that we did push to have things that could help us,” Bevell said. “Again, it’s between the league and the club on that. Like I said, I am disappointed. I know if the game was on Sunday, I would be there because the time frame would be up. And all these coaches would be able to be there. So I think that’s the most disappointing part. But we’ve got to go with what they’re telling us.”

NFL officials have said repeatedly that games are postponed for medical reasons only, not for competitive issues such as players (or, in this case, coaches) being quarantined as high-risk close contacts. The Denver Broncos were forced to play a game on time against the New Orleans Saints last month after all the quarterbacks on their roster were ruled ineligible to play through one positive coronavirus test and three quarantines as high-risk close contacts. The Broncos lost, 31-3.

The Lions are not suffering an outbreak along the lines of those experienced earlier this season by the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens. The Lions announced Tuesday that two members of the organization had tested positive. Bevell said Wednesday that it had been one player and one assistant coach. The team placed practice-squad linebacker Anthony Pittman on its covid-19 reserve list Tuesday. He reportedly tested positive, although that list also is for players identified through contact tracing as having been exposed to the virus.

The coaches identified as contacts worked from home Wednesday. The NFL’s contact-tracing follows a two-step process, and sometimes individuals initially identified as contacts are not officially classified as high-risk close contacts based on the duration and proximity of the contact and other considerations, such as mask-wearing and ventilation. But in this case, the Lions were told that the five coaches indeed were deemed high-risk close contacts and placed in quarantine.

“I will say yes, I was wearing my mask,” Bevell said Thursday. “Absolutely, I was.”

Bevell said that he and the other quarantined coaches will continue to participate in game preparations remotely. They are not permitted under NFL rules to participate remotely in game-day coaching, however. Bevell said that quarterbacks coach Sean Ryan will serve as the Lions’ offensive play-caller against the Buccaneers. Evan Rothstein, a research and analysis assistant to the head coach, will serve as the defensive play-caller. Other staffers will fill in as defensive position coaches.

“He is our most knowledgeable [option] in terms of our defense, what we’re doing really all the way across the board,” Bevell said of Rothstein. “He is very involved in game day already. He has been in tough situations on game day, helping with information and communication. So it felt like that he has the most experience and will be able to get that done at a high level for us.”

Bevell said Wednesday that he had not tested positive for coronavirus and was frustrated not only because he was quarantined from his team but also because Tuesday was his wedding anniversary.

“I was stuck in a hotel, can’t be with my wife, can’t spend time,” he said. “So it affects us in a real way.”