Ultimately a smart move from Lampard.
Despite the easy-pass he gets in the media, he has to succeed in his next job. A likely relegation with Norwich and then the difficulty of the Championship (which he failed at before) would probably end his chances of another Premier League or even an obviously top Championship job, and I'm not sure he can be bothered (or is able to) put in the work with a team any lower than that.
He can still, for some reason, probably get a decent job next - so he needs to choose wisely. He would do right to wait for an opportunity with either a less doomed PL team, or maybe even someone like Rangers and take the Gerrard route.
Not saying he is terrible, but he hasn't done anything to show he is great or anything. He did an okay job at both Derby and Chelsea, but ultimately failed both, and especially at Chelsea showed he isn't a top-level manager at the moment.
Personally I don’t think getting relegated would go against Lampard if he was to have taken the job.
Why?
Well Norwich are doomed, everyone with a brain cell knows they are done, and that it would take some sort of miracle for them to stay up, so there’s no risk of relegation going against Lampard.
He could have gone there, improved them, if he was the miracle needed and kept them up he’d have been lauded, if he improved them but not enough to get out of relegation then it still wouldn’t look bad, and when Back in the Championship Norwich are the bounce back kings. If his management is up to scratch then he could have a promotion under his belt at the end of next season and a stronger finish in the EPL next season and all of a sudden Lampard had some credibility.
I thought regardless of Norwich been almost a relegation guarantee at this stage, it’s would have been a good move for him, 1 step back 2 steps forward.
He doesn’t have a title under his belt like Gerrard, or a decent run of form in Europe like Gerrard. He did ok with Derby but ultimately it was a failed promotion effort. He’s got to take that step back to go forward again to raise his stock.
Obviously it’s not happening now but I think it would have been a good move, head have also got 3/4 of a seasons worth of experience managing in the EPL at the lower level which can’t be sniffed at for someone in his position