It’s the end of another era in Detroit. Team President Matt Millen was dumped by the Detroit Lions today. And so ends another era of losing Detroit football. This era was extended too long. It should have ended earlier. I still don’t understand how the season could have started with Millen at the helm.

To be honest, I actually thought the move of hiring Millen was a bold, gutsy move that just might work. I liked Millen as a player, despite hating the Raiders, and liked him in the TV booth. He seemed to know football and might be able to make it work in Detroit. Alas, it was not to be.

Under Millen’s guidance, for seven plus seasons, the Lions went a dismal, league worst 31 - 84. The next worse team was a whopping 10 games better. Millen took a mediocre Detroit team and made the league’s worst. His record in the draft was horrible as many top picks were squandered. He has had a merry go round of coaches too. Coach Rod is unlikely to be with the Lions next year as most new Presidents want to put their own stamp on the team.

With Millen gone, now we can get on to rebuilding, again. So, what is the team to do this year? Well, the team certainly isn’t going to turn it around and burst into the playoffs with this change. It seems odd, but many of the players expressed shock at the firing of Millen. Talk about having your head down in the proverbial sand.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, play the young guys! Let’s see what they can do. I don’t expect the likes of Stanton, Cohen, Avril, Dizon, and Fluellen and LeGrande suddenly stand the league on its ears and give Detroit a team it deserves, but we just might find a diamond or two in the rough.

We are going to have a long, uphill road to walk here with the Lions once again, but at least we finally made the turn and started doing something right. Now, if only Ford Sr would turn the team over to his son and get out of the way.

Join the forum discussion on this post - (3) Posts

Today, the Minnesota Vikings announced they were benching their starting quarterback Tarvaris Jackson and replacing him with Gus Frerotte. Maybe the Lions can take a hint here and bench Jon Kitna and start either Stanton or Orlovsky.

The Vikings were my pre-season pick to win the NFC North but I strongly stressed that their weakest link was the QB and that was the one position that could ruin an entire season for a team. The Vikings obviously realize this too and are quickly making a change. They obviously have begun to think that Frerotte gives them a better chance to win now than Jackson does. Is Frerotte any better than Stanton or Orlovsky? More experienced, yes, but not a better QB - at least not at this point in his career. The one thing the Vikings hope he will do, based on his years of experience, is not make mistakes and commit turnovers. Well, that hasn’t helped the Lions with Kitna.

Now, the season aspirations for the Vikings were a bit loftier than for the Lions, but why do the Lions always have to be so stagnant about changes? Kitna’s time is over. Marineli won’t play any of the rookies. His he really that set in his ways?

And what’s with the sudden stream of running backs coming to Ford Field for interviews with the Lions? According to various media outlets, the Lions have brought in free agent running backs Cedric Benson, Shaun Alexander and Vernand Morency for talks. The Lions say they aren’t “really” interested in more running backs, but just want to have a short list in case of injury. What? That’s hard to buy. And an Austin, TX television station has reported that Benson has already signed with the Lions. Why all these backs? Especially having spent a high pick to get Kevin Smith and he is showing promise. Where are all the free agent QBs? We could use a new QB before another running back.

Join the forum discussion on this post - (2) Posts