Lions Ownership Discussing Firing Jim Schwartz
December 30th, 2012 at 12:54 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 1:19 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 1:27 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 12:32 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 12:47 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 12:32 PM ^
Fire Schwartz!
I want 0-16 again!!
December 30th, 2012 at 12:37 PM ^
December 31st, 2012 at 11:49 AM ^
Maybe.
December 30th, 2012 at 12:39 PM ^
It's not Schwartz, it's the max contracts of Suh, Stafford, and Johnson combined with Avril's franchise number. Lions had 3 expensive players from the last 3 rookie drafts without the new cap. Oops. It's hamstringing the franchise.
December 30th, 2012 at 12:49 PM ^
Yes, it was an abysmal bit of luck.
Schwartz deserves another year, after that feel free to fire him if he cannot return to the playoffs. I'd change up the coordinators, though.
December 30th, 2012 at 12:46 PM ^
Detroit sports fans seem to expect the world every year and overreact when they don't get it. In fact, I remember several people on this board (and several friends) telling me the Tigers would sweep the World Series and when they lost I heard about the significant changes they needed to make. And that's coming from a New York sports fan.
December 30th, 2012 at 12:56 PM ^
Detroit sports fans are, on the whole, really stupid. It's a shame, but listening to sports talk radio in this town is especially brutal.
December 30th, 2012 at 1:06 PM ^
You should come to Cleveland. The sports fans here (especially the vocal ones) are incredibly stupid, impatient, etc. They have no experience with winning and therefore have no idea how it works, how to get there, etc. I moved here in 1995 and the fans dumped on Belichick 24/7. Then the Browns left for Baltimore and Belichick went to New England. Both won Super Bowls while leaving Cleveland behind. It was very telling.
December 30th, 2012 at 1:20 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 3:06 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 1:13 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 12:50 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 1:02 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 1:10 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 1:22 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 2:15 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 3:39 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 1:03 PM ^
The only plus the Fords have to their name as far as owners go is that they drafted Sanders and Megatron. Other than that, it's nothing but decades of futility.
December 30th, 2012 at 1:04 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 1:09 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 1:07 PM ^
geez 4 Bears rushers vs. 5 Det. blockers and they still get to Stafford.
December 30th, 2012 at 1:12 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 1:24 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 1:15 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 1:15 PM ^
Does anyonone have a link to watch the game?
December 30th, 2012 at 2:02 PM ^
thefirstrow.eu
Tell no one.
December 30th, 2012 at 1:16 PM ^
Fire Schwartz would be a good idea. The guy just is not cut out to be a head coach. Last year was an anomaly.
I hope they find a way to keep Suh in Det. after his contract is up. As painful as he can be sometimes, it would be more painful to see him in another teams uniform.
December 30th, 2012 at 1:25 PM ^
I hear Pat Shurmur will be back on the market real soon.
December 30th, 2012 at 1:29 PM ^
Clean house and rebuild the right way, not just promoting a Millen student and picking a rookie head coach.
Get an assistant GM from a recently dominant team, get a proven coach, and will someone please wipe out the entire scouting dept.? Our drafts have sucked. I think we have a talent scout who has been with the team since the 80s.
I would say get rid of the Fords but that's very unlikely unless the old man croaks soon and Jr. takes over which I think would improve the organization somewhat.
December 30th, 2012 at 1:30 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 1:36 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 2:04 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 2:43 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 1:36 PM ^
The off/on the field issues are the most worrysome to me. The Lions have always sucked and most likely always will but now they are shitty football playing thugs.
December 30th, 2012 at 1:37 PM ^
December 30th, 2012 at 2:43 PM ^
Exactly.
If people really hate the Lions they need to start saying it by closing their wallets not opening their mouths. Owners are business people and don't give a fuck what people say. If they're still paying, all is good in their minds.
December 30th, 2012 at 1:38 PM ^
You might as well get rid of Schwartz too. Even if he survives this season, next year would be his last if we didn't make the playoffs. No coordinator would come if he knew he might be out of job after one year.
December 30th, 2012 at 1:47 PM ^
CBS did a nice little write-up regarding this - (LINK)
Among some of the more illuminating statements -
"It'd be hard to blame that lack of regard for the team and the law solely on Schwartz. Of course, Schwartz also is probably the easiest person to blame in this situation." - when discussing discipline issues
If the Fords are disillusioned with the culture in the locker room, then it is not entirely clear that firing Schwartz totally resolves this particular issue, although it is easier to replace the coach and potentially certain members of management than let go of otherwise talented players. For a family that dabbles in a top ten Fortune 500 company, they don't seem to understand this aspect of leading change very well.
Even if you have a roster that is strong enough to at least do respectably in the league, if you feel as if you cannot count on your teammates to keep the team in mind and put the team in a position to win, then even your best and most well-meaning players will be reluctant to give 100%, especially if the issues are allowed to linger.
I have to believe that, despite the head-scratching drafts of the Lions (and these definitely contribute to the lack of depth at key positions), part of the problem is cultural. It might very well be that Schwartz, in the end, is not the person to lead such a charge, but it is something that needs to change or it will likely be the case that anyone who is hired will have more trouble winning consistently in Detroit than they might in other places.
December 30th, 2012 at 1:49 PM ^
That is a photographer for Ford Motor. He's works for Ford Sr. I asked my dad's friend what Senior thought of the Lions. Ford's answer was , "Bob, you don't need to win to be a winner."
People have to stop going to the games if there's to be change because that is what the owner thinks.
December 30th, 2012 at 2:09 PM ^
but I disagree and I think that would be giving them a free pass. We want answers!
I do think that the Fords care about the Lions winning. To suggest that they don't is to suggest that they're not even fans of their team. Does an increase in wealth decrease one's interest in the game? Or decrease their desire to see their own team win?
They need to get over themselves and admit this era of management is crap and start fresh there.
December 30th, 2012 at 2:46 PM ^
I haven't looked at the numbers for the Lions but there are plenty of owners, especially in smaller markets, that are not willing to take a loss on a pro team in order to fund a "championship" payroll. Perhaps Ford is not willing to reduce some of his $1.2B in net worth to fund a Super Bowl caliber team. Enough fans will keep coming at this level to make his hobby profitable while he maintains all the perks.
Think of the Lions as having ownership/management similar to Wisconson's AD/President whereas Dave Brandon, willing to pay top $ to assistant coaches, is more like to Illich (gotta like those Pizza guys)
Clearly Barry didn't think the Lions owernship was willing to do what it takes to field a winning team.
December 30th, 2012 at 3:25 PM ^
"Bob, you don't need to win to be a winner." Cue ka-ching effect.
So I guess the question is how much Ford still has to pay Schwartz even if he fires him. And I wasn't paying attention, but Schwartz got a "multi-year" contract extension last summer, so if it's 2 yrs, then he's around through 2014. I'd say Schwartz isn't going away any time soon.
December 30th, 2012 at 1:57 PM ^
As many have said, the team has done nothing since William Clay Ford Sr. bought the team in '63. Their last championship was in the 50's. It's been a long time but we wont have to wait another 50 years for the team to either be sold or pass to William Clay Jr. Since Jr. seems to be doing a decent job with the car company (I believe he's due some credit for turning it around and for steady leadership through 2008), there's hope he'll do the right thing by either turning the franchise around or selling it to someone who can.
Until the change of control happens there is no hope for the Lions.
December 30th, 2012 at 4:20 PM ^
Jr brought in Millen! This family is clueless when it comes to NFL football and nothing will change until there is a new owner. I wish we could pass a law to keep the Ford's Lions out of the state of MI. Just start a new expansion team and have the fan own the team!
December 30th, 2012 at 2:00 PM ^
I would say that Mayhew has had more hits than misses, but not nearly enough hits as an elite GM in the league. You need at least one more year to get the Millen years behind 'em.
That being said, I believe Swartz needs another year to truly determine if he is a good coach. Their record is much worse than the team is. However, I also thought RR needed one more year, which obviously was dead wrong.
I sure hope I didn't misspell a word, eliciting a handful of ridiculous replys that judge far less than the content of my post.