Lions Go Bust...Martz Shown the Door

Stop me if you've heard this before. After a couple seasons, the experiment with a successful coach moving the Detroit Lions into playoff contention has gone for naught and everyone is starting over again. After being hired as President and CEO of the inept franchise, Matt Millen went out and hired quarterbacks guru Marty Morningweg to be the head coach for a team that narrowly missed the playoffs at 9-7 a year earlier. While that was an aging roster, Morningweg went 5-27 in two seasons (and made one of the most attrocious decisions in NFL history by taking the wind in overtime against the Bears after winning the coin toss). Experiment failed, Morningweg out. Time to start over.

Enter Steve Mariucci, the only candidate who Millen seriously interviewed (the team got disciplined for not seriously considering any minority candidates), who had been a playoff coach for the 49ers and had led their rebuilding roster to as much as could realistically have been expected. Following an 11-21 record after two years, expectations going into year 3 were high and they, um, were not met. Mariucci didn't survive the season and the Lions went 5-11. Mariucci out. Time to start over.

Amidst all the Fire Millen chants that were smothering the air in Ford Field, Millen somehow kept his job and searched for another regime. Enter Rod Marinelli, an older coach for being a first time head man. He came in with the idea of creating a mentally and physically tough team that played smash mouth football, gave 110%, and (insert your own overused cliche' here). Millen also brought in an offensive guru named Mike Martz who created a dynamic offense in St. Louis, winning a Super Bowl as an offensive coordinator and reaching another as a head coach. Marinelli craves smash mouth power running football and I'm pretty sure Mike Martz invented the forward pass (at least that's what he would tell you). This is the type of mismatched couple you see living together in failed sitcoms on Lifetime.

In year one, an undertalented Lions roster that was used to the West Coast offense and base man defense played Martz's pass heavy spread and Marinelli's base Cover 2 zone to a 3-13 record. The passing game showed signs of life as new quarterback Jon Kitna threw for over 4,000 yards while wideouts Roy Williams and Mike Furrey each surpassed 1,000 yards receiving. With Williams ending up at the Pro Bowl.

This year's Lions started 6-2 and fans finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Turns out that light was a freight train as the Lions lost their next 6 games and 7 of their final 8 to finish the year at 7-9 (the best during Millen's 7 year reign). Kitna again through for over 4,000 yards, but for the second consecutive season tossed more interceptions than touchdowns. Less than a week after their season ended, Martz was shown the door. Time to start over.

While occassionally looking like a potent offense, the Lions over the course of these two seasons have been hindered by mistakes and generally poor offensive line play that's led to them finishing near the bottom of the league in sacks allowed, penalties, and turnovers. This, along with pass heavy play calling by Martz that led them to finishes of last and and 2nd to last in rushing offense respectively. Part of the problem was the Lions falling behind (they're defense was attrocious as well), another part was Martz's own nature.

Still, the underlying problem was how blindly all the supposed "superiors" in Millen and Marinelli went along with everything Martz said. Martz was not the head coach, yet Marinelli never could get him to consistently feature a more balanced attack to take pressure off Kitna. Martz was not the head coach, yet when he said jump, they said how high when he suggested that they bring in players that fit his system in players like Jon Kitna, Mike Furrey, Shaun McDonald, and Calvin Johnson. Martz was not the head coach, yet was the one who received the credit for the 6-2 start along with the 1-7 collapse.

While I've jumped back and forth on both sides of the fence, I will say this. These are the kind of moves that are keeping the Lions the laughingstock of the NFL year after year. Matt Millen keeps choosing a direction, then pulls the plug when it doesn't work immediately. Maybe they do need someone who isn't as stubbornly devoted to this insane discrepency between passes and rushes (I tend to agree with that notion), but the Lions dove head first into his philosophies and have no viable options.

Maybe Colletto and Brown can manage the offense just fine, but the Lions took one step forward and three more backward this season. Yet the blame for the failure falls solely on the shoulders of the one man in a position of power that's actually enjoyed a reasonable amount of success at this level? How about the consistently poor talent evaluation by the Lions scouting staff in some of their high profile first round busts (Joey Harrington, Charles Rogers, and Mike Williams) along with franchise contracts given to 2nd or 3rd tier players (Jeff Backus and Corey Redding the past two seasons)? What about the fact that the man who coached the worst (or 2nd worst if you think the secondary is more horrid, I think it's splitting hairs) unit in the offensive line is now getting the keys to the offense? None of these moves seem to make any sense except for Millen finding a scapegoat to keep the boo birds off his back for another season. This season has ended with probably the worst taste in my mouth of any Lions season the past seven years (that's saying something). Despite flirting with a playoff spot, this team seems further away from competing than before.

The way we're going, next season could very well see more heads roll as a probably undertalented Lions team is mediocre to bad again. Leaving the easy possibility of the next two statements. Marinelli out. Time to start over...