Detroit Lions

There exists the very real possibility that the Detroit Lions will not win another game for the rest of the 2007 season. Next week appears to be their last winnable game against Minnesota. Even without a healthy Adrian Peterson, Chester Taylor is likely to be more than the Detroit run defense can handle. After the Vikings game, the Lions face Dallas, San Diego, Kansas City, and Green Bay to close the season. Once sitting at 6-2, a game versus Arizona up next and a game versus an iffy Giants team in two weeks, it looked like the Lions had a chance to advance to 7-3 or 8-2 because good teams beat teams like the Cards or Giants.

The fact is that the Lions are not a good team. This is a team with a tough overachiever at quarterback, someone who also happens to fall apart when the pressure is really on, such as the pressure of being 6-2 and realizing that his prediction of 10 wins is a real possibility. This is a team who is paying their offensive coordinator, Mike Martz, more than anyone else at his coaching position for mediocrity on offense. This is a team with a general manager who has kept his job after posting a staggering 72 losses in his first 6 years on the job, the same general manager who should be fired after this season. This is a team with an owner who is highly unlikely to fire that general manager, Matt Millen, regardless of the result of this season.

A huge problem with this entire situation is that the beleaguered Lions fans are likely to look at this season, with its 7 or 8, maybe even 9 wins (if a miracle occurs) as an improvement. After all, last season, the Lions posted the 2nd worst record in the NFL in 2006. Whatever they did this season is an improvement, right? Wrong. This team started out 6-2. If they finish the season outside of the playoffs, this season is not a success. It means that they will have tantalized the fan base once again. It means that Matt Millen and William Clay Ford will be able to point to this season and say “Look at where we are. Look at how far we have come since last year.” By doing this, they will attempt to con the fans of the worst organization in football into believing that things really are getting better.

Things have improved slightly, perhaps back to the point they were when Millen was brought in. Wait! Isn’t that what Millen was brought in for? To move this franchise beyond the days of 9-7 records and first round losses to go deeper into the playoffs, to win a Super Bowl? Is that good enough for you? To be back to where we were when we started? It is not enough for me. I want to see accountability in the front office and accountability from the ownership.

I want to see Millen fired, finally, and a general manager with the experience and knowledge to lead this franchise to greater things. The fans deserve so much for than they are getting. In the past 50 years, the Lions have won 1 playoff game. I suspect that the Lions will not win another under the current management structure.