Jim Schwartzdodged questions about his future with the Detroit Lions following a 23-20 overtime loss to the New York Giants.
Lions players, however, defended their coach.
"It's not my decision but I love playing for him," Stafford said, per the Detroit News. "I would love for him to stay."
The highly paid quarterback was asked if he'd lobby for the only NFL coach he's ever had.
"It's not my point to do that," Stafford said. "If they ask me my opinion, I will tell them my opinion. This is a business, but I would love him back."
As we mentioned on the "Around The League Podcast," Stafford's regression during the Lions' 1-5 slide is one argument for changing coaches. If the Lions move on from Schwartz, bringing in a coach with a track record of improving quarterback play should be a priority.
One sign that Schwartz is on his way out came Sunday after fans booed when the coach took the ball out of his $76 million quarterback's hands with 23 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and two timeouts in a tie game.
Fox cameras showed Schwartz appearing to yell some not-so-nice things to the Ford Field crowd. The Lions coach denied he was yelling at fans.
"I wasn't addressing the crowd, I was just trying to get our team fired up," Schwartz said, via MLive.com. "I think the psyche of the team at that point, we needed to have that spark. We needed to feel like we're going out here and overtime and we're going to go win it. That's the only thing I was doing there."
You can judge for yourself:
If you watch the above video and think Schwartz was, in fact, yelling at the fans, you aren't alone.
"I'm not mad at (Schwartz) for doing it because for as many times as I wanted to, and I kind of stopped myself from saying something," Nate Burleson said.
Schwartz was asked about the incident during his Monday press conference, this time, however, he offered a little bit different of a response.
"I didn't grab the microphone and make a crowd announcement," the coach said.
NFL Media Insider Ian Rapoport reported last week that Schwartz would be out of a job if he couldn't get the Lions into the postseason.
The Lions were eliminated from contention Sunday. "Black Monday" sits only one week away.
We recap every Week 16 game, including the Lions' loss, in the latest "Around The League Podcast."
