This list is completely arbitrary and not a genuine analysis of the relative merits of state fossils.
Lions Ownership Discussing Firing Jim Schwartz
... If it's one of the better jobs, but we draft poorly and have bad ownership, what makes it good?
At any rate, you haven't been watching if you think that losing to three of the best teams on our schedule (Green Bay, Houston, Indianapolis) was inexcusable. JJ Watt has a legitimate case for MVP, Rodgers is moving out of All-Pro status and into legendary company, and Luck has a good case for RotY. We don't have anyone playing that well except Megatron, and it is difficult to win games from WR. It's actually pretty hard to win games from any single position - can't run or throw if you can't win the line of scrimmage - but WR needs nearly everything else to work.
Arizona looks a lot worse now with QB5 and 6 running for cover, but they also beat New England.
In the last three years, I would say that Detroit has drafted the early rounds as good as anyone. Best and Young may be the biggest misses but they were productive when they played.
Agree on the losses being to good teams, but when they have been playing from behind most of the season and can't hold the few leads they do have, that is at least partially on the coaches.
Watching the lions is like watching a comedy movie.
he's going to throw for 5000 yards... he has no playmakers around him.
What about Calvin?
USING GRATUITOUS AMOUNTS OF CAPS LOCK SINCE APRIL 2011
It's watching a bad drama that the makers expected to be taken seriously, yet is so bad it's funny. The owners just can't figure out why everyone is laughing.
Until they get competent ownership nothing else is going to matter. The Ford's need to fire themselves !!!!
I've never watched "Rudy" because I can't stand notre dame.
Michigan fans vs Lions fans.
Michigan fans win.
One side One team
3-time Wolverine
Hey guys I have an idea no one else has thought of yet:
The Fords should fire themselves.
CJK5H
LOL wtf was that dance??
Does he know his team is 4-11? What a chode.....
CJK5H
Thank you for using the word "chode". I didn't think anyone did anymore except for my brother, and he's, well, a total chode.
after all the previous 31 losing seasons under Ford ownership. It doesn't fundamentally matter whether Schwartz or Mayhew are fired; if they are, the Fords will hire two more incompetent underachievers in their place. If the Fords had been in charge of the U.S. military in 1862, they'd have kept McClellan in place and forced Grant out of the service.
Not with Matt at QB. There's no way I would clean house unless you could get a top of the line coach (which the Lions cant). So stay the course and hope for DB's in April and a healthy team next fall.
Fuck it, Dude, let's go bowling.
What's the course that we must stay on? Continuing an 8 game losing streak next year? Continuing to skip players in the draft that we desperately need while drafting a best player available game plan? Please explain this course that we must stay on?
The Lions almost always start games slowly, get in a big hole and then have to try and come back in the second half. A lot of that pattern is "on" the coaching staff for not preparing the team properly for the opponent, game planning etc. not to mention team morale etc. which play factors in early game performance. There is some talent there, but the coaches are not prepping them well.
I refuse to follow the lions until junior sells the team. The only constant for the last 50 years had been the Fords incompetent ownership. Go Pats.
I'm not used to not watching the Lions on Turkey day. You do realize that the end of the Ford era for the Lions means the end of the Lions always hosting a game on Thansgiving? The elder Ford's pledge to have the Big 3 pull advertising during NFL games is all that's keeping this tradition for us. For that reason alone, it's almost worth keeping the Ford's around.
Than win all their games not on Thanksgiving?
"I love him, he's a great coach, he's a great mentor, he's a great friend. He's every single thing you want a college coach to be, and he does it flawlessly." -David Molk
I'm numb to the pain of them losing. Like Brooks from Shawshank Redemption, I've been in Lions "prison" for so long, I don't think I could handle it any other way.
Does that mean if the Lions were to sell and/or get good you'd become a Cardinals fan or something?
"I love him, he's a great coach, he's a great mentor, he's a great friend. He's every single thing you want a college coach to be, and he does it flawlessly." -David Molk
I actually lived in Arizona for a few years and did become a part time Cardinals fan. I was so confused during their Super Bowl run. Pro football success as a fan just isn't for me.
Speaking of Schwartz - shouldn't he have gone for 2 there?
Roughly 6:40 left and the TD pulls us to within 3 points...he kicks the PAT to be down 2 points....
What is the benefit of that?
Seems to me that the PAT doesn't make much of a difference between getting no points and the 2 point conversion if good would allow your D to give up a TD and still be down a score (8 points).
The benefit of that is winning the game with a stop and a field goal instead of tying and risking OT. I'm not sure I understand your argument. I don't know anyone who would go for two there.
"And when we play as a team, when the old season is over, you and I know, it's gonna be Michigan again, Michigan."
He's a hothead and a mediocre coach. Especially if the Lions are able to get Bill O'Brien, Bill Cowher, Nick Saban, Andy Reid, Chip Kelly, or anyone in the ballpark of those names, they need to let Schwartz go, and also learn how to make character as much or more of a priority as talent. The Lions are really making it hard to root for them at this point.
I do not mean to pry, but you don't by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand?
No successful college coach (Chip Kelly, Nick Saban, Bill O'Brien) would leave a secure job to coach the Lions. They may be interested in an NFL job, but not with the Lions.
Also, when has it ever NOT been hard to root for the Lions? You act like this is unexpected or an aberration. Last year's playoff appearance was an aberration. The default expectation is that the Lions will be a train wreck. Frankly, I'm surprised when the Lions beat anyone.
It has always been hard to root for the Lions, but this year seems to be the worst, with all of the off-field transgressions and Titus Young proving that he is a massive idiot. But it doesn't mean that we shouldn't WANT it to be different. I'd like to think that someday it might be possible to root for them whole-heartedly. As long as the Fords own the Lions, probably unlikely in reality, I guess.
I do not mean to pry, but you don't by any chance happen to have six fingers on your right hand?
If only the NFL could fire an owner...
Both the GM and Coach should be shown to door for an 8 game losing streak. The lions do have talent at QB and WR. Also, the DL on paper is as talented as any in the NFL. LB are average. DB are poor...but still this team should have finished with 7 or 8 wins. This is a big drop off from their lucky season last year but there is no hope for this bunch going forward.
expect the best
Here is my reasoning why Schwartz should not be fired. Going into the 2012 draft the Lions had some huge needs. In my opinion they needed a shut down corner, another safety, a run blocking guard, and a pass rushing DE. Instead they drafted an offensive tackle with their 1st pick and a injured wide receiver with their 2nd pick. This was puzzling since Backus and Burlson were not going anywhere. The only thing I could think of is that Mayhew was conceding 2012 and playing for 2013. Both Burlson and Backus will be gone and then the picks make sense.
Now we can argue whether playing that far ahead is a good idea. If the consensous is that is a terrible idea then we can talk about Mayhew being fired. The bigest problem with the Lions in my opinion is horrible play in the secondary. 3 10+ 2nd half leads were lost and multiple other games lost because we did not have a corner who could cover a dead opposum. That was not Schwartz's fault.
Maybe Schwartz is a terrible coach after all for other reasons. But he can only work with the players given to him by the GM. And yes, the Fords have no clue how to be competent owners of a NFL franchise.
Schwartz will be around at least another year since Ford gave him a contract extension through 2015. It seems like the GM has their salary cap all screwed up, so I don't think they will be able to sign any FA DB and FS. Another problem is that any one who is good probably would not want to play for a losing team. So, it will take years to draft a full defensive back field, a RB and new OL. It is possible this team will reach .500 next season but looking at some of the bone headed coaching decision, Schwartz will be lucky to win 6 or 7 next season.
expect the best
Clearly every coach has been influenced by the GM. They must not feel in control. I have no other reason to assume why our lack of discipline has existed for years. I get players screw up but wow are these guys a mess. Fire every single decision maker in the building. When we took broyles over a solid DB that sealed it for me. Done with this franchise.
Its called a royale with cheese
They can fire all of the coaches and GM's they want, but until they fire the owners, nothing good is ever going to happen for the Lions. Though he didn't own it until 1964, WCF has been running the team since 1958. He took a team had won three NFL Championships in the 1950's and turned it into the worst franchise of the last fifty years.
Even Tampa Bay had seven good years and won a Super Bowl. The only thing the Lions have shown themselves to be able to do consistently and effectively is break the hearts of everyone who has ever been a Lions fan.
I'd avoid the Lions like the plague. Since Ford assumed total ownership in '64, not a single solitary full-time head coach that Ford has hired has ever gone on to be a HC for any other NFL team. Considering the number of head coaches in the NFL since 1964 who have been with more than one team, that's a remarkable achievement (Dick Jauron coached the Bills after he left the Lions, but he was an only an interim Lions HC for five games in 2005 after Mariucci was booted).
Put it this way: Detroit is a coaching graveyard. That's where your head coaching career goes to die. When you're done coaching the Lions, your reputation is so damaged that nobody is going to think of you as anything other than an assistant.
Sadly, I think only one person here mentioned our biggest issue. I haven't cared about the NFL since Barry retired but I still generally keep up and want the Lions to do well, I just became indifferent a long time ago towards the NFL in general. Anyway, the biggest issue is how the NFL added a rookie cap but didn't offer any temporary clauses for teams top heavy with high picks for the few years before it took effect. Sure, that is the Lions fault through their play but we have (IIRC) over 40% of our cap locked into 5 players. That is insane! How can this team not completely go through another "rebuild" by dumping all but CJ and still remain competitive on the free agent market? How can they not? Sadly, we have more holes than money to get decent players to plug them for the next 4 years unless we dump Suh, Avril and other guys that should be Lions. Sadly, I think Suh plays maybe one more year here and he is traded or more likely let go. Avril doesn't deserve what he wants so he has to go. Delmas only plays about 6 games a year anyway so he'll have to go. KVB should have been gone this year. Sure, the Fords suck and our staff is average at best. Yet, only a top-tier coach could keep this team competitive given our financial issues for the next half decade. Even then, after the 5 years it's a team full of youth. The Lions will be a 4-6 win team for the next 5 years regardless of coach.
OMe on now, you know that's what you're secretly hoping for. Bama destroys ND, Saban goes to Detroit, Bama falls apart, MIchigan rises to the top of the college football world.
Or...
Bama destroys ND, Saban goes to Jacksonville to revive the Jags, Chip Kelly leaves Oregon and comes to Detroit to bring the no-huddle spread to Detroit and Stafford throws for 6,000 yards and Calvin gets o 3,000 receiving yards and the Lions win the Super Bowl because no one can keep up.
What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve and...Those Who Stay WILL Be Champions.



Mine is Brian Kelly. Don't say he wouldn't come. He's a mercenary. Same allure that attracted Harbaugh would interest Kelly.