Lions Ownership Discussing Firing Jim Schwartz

Fire Schwartz!

I want 0-16 again!!

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.

I'm a giants fan so I don't have a horse in this race...but I just don't get the desire to fire a coach a year after the team's first playoff appearance in years. The league reacted and the Lions struggled this year. At the very least Schwatrz deserves one more year (maybe with some coaching changes and a new GM).



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.

I would usually defend a franchise's "off year" based on all the injuries the Lions have suffered. But, after seeing the kind of talent the Packers have drafted and picked up off waivers the last couple years, and seeing undrafted linemen hold their own week after week, it's obvious the Lions have no clue how to stack a 53 team roster. They are pretty good in their 1-deep, but after that you are one injury away from scrambling to find a starter (this year they started practice squad guys at CB, S, WR, TB and all but for Bell are busts)

I hate the Bears and really want them to miss the play-offs but I also want Maybew and Shwartz gone and a better draft pick. Oh who to root for?

It's not Schwartz. It's the Fords. The Lions desperately need new ownership, something which will unfortunately never happen.



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.

Can we the people fire the owners?

geez 4 Bears rushers vs. 5 Det. blockers and they still get to Stafford. 

Hire Reid!

Does anyonone have a link to watch the game?

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.

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.

Almost wanna give him another year. Everyone who is a free agent say goodbye too. That bubble screen shows at lease we should get a new DC though.

A fish rots from the head down. As long as Ford owns this team don't expect any miracles. When I was in high school circa 1980, the team's slogan was "Restore the Roar." I can't believe I'm talking about this 30 years later.

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.

people need to quit GOING TO THESE GAMES every week. make them play with the stadium 3/4 empty. until the Ford's see their profits drop significantly we're gonna have this BS every year

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.

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. 

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. 

I'd be looking at Mayhew before Schwartz.  How can a guy get away with the weak drafts...Best (a concussion question coming out of college), Titus Young (an attitude question coming out of college) and Broyles (an injury problem coming out of college). How you can you gamble with so many high round draft picks, especially when representing a talent poor organization with little room for error.

Going into this year, I would have thought firing Schwartz for a sub-.500 season would be ridiculous but 7 (8?) straight losses and 0-5 (0-6?) in the division is awful, not matter how strong the NFC North looks. Losing to Houston, Indianapolis, and one each of Minnesota and Green Bay were inexcusable, and the Arizona and Tennessee games were just embarrassing.

Time for new blood, but if Schwartz is fired, I think the Detroit job has to be one of the better ones that will be available this year and with the team that is in place right now (minus the secondary and receivers) is certainly much better than walking into one of the Millen teams.