yourmom_is_hot

January 15th, 2016 at 9:24 AM ^

based on the what was available in coaches wanting jobs, this was the best of a bunch of bad options.

 

Caldwell isn't a great coach, but Mayhew didn't do this roster any favors with poor draft picks in the later rounds.

 

 

Joined: 10/14/2014

MGoPoints: -99511

Jayvandy23

January 15th, 2016 at 9:29 AM ^

Now let Cooter continue to build on what he started in the second half of the year, and convince Johnson that things are headed in the right direction.  Retaining Caldwell does both.

Joined: 11/06/2008

MGoPoints: 10953

James Burrill Angell

January 15th, 2016 at 9:31 AM ^

He may or may not be a good coach, but who else is out there that they're likely to get (don't say McDaniels....I said LIKELY to get).

They need better players along both lines first and foremost before anyone can judge them. Willie Henry would be a great fit with the Lions but they seem to be adverse to drafting Wolverines. 

Joined: 08/12/2009

MGoPoints: 15946

KungFury

January 15th, 2016 at 9:31 AM ^

Every head coach spot filled except the Titans who are expected to stay in-house. So even bigger than retaining Caldwell is retaining Austin. They now don't have to panic like the Bucs did and fire the head coach to keep the coordinator.



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Joined: 04/01/2015

MGoPoints: 1671

laxmangl29

January 15th, 2016 at 9:39 AM ^

While I don't think hes a great coach, he's at least servicable.

This gives the new GM an easy scapegoat after year one as well. If things go great he looks like a genious, if the season goes poorly, he can fire the coach (who will then have had three years and a "fair" shot) and hire "his guy".

 

Win win. Lions aren't going to be great next year in any case, but they might make the playoffs as a wild card team. I can't imagine a new coach would do any better next year and Caldwell probably wont do much worse. 

Joined: 04/16/2013

MGoPoints: 212

Fuck a Bucknut…

January 15th, 2016 at 9:40 AM ^

Hes not a very good coach when it comes to in-game the lions always seem to fall in close games and 9/10 times thats because of the coach. Lmao dont hate the lions but them having a not very good coach can only be good for my vikings Skol. Too bad the lions dont have a coach like the vikings have maybe their next hire most likely after next season will be good. Skol vikings

Joined: 01/14/2016

MGoPoints: 70

Naked Bootlegger

January 15th, 2016 at 10:10 AM ^

Look back at the Lions 2014-15 wins.  Lots of close wins, including a bunch of come-from-behind wins.   I'm not a bubbly Caldwell backer, but they won a ton of close games the prior year.  It's often a razor-thin margin between 5-11 and 11-5 in the NFL. 

Joined: 01/28/2011

MGoPoints: 34775

Fuck a Bucknut…

January 15th, 2016 at 10:15 AM ^

the lions werent terrible last season but they werent playing very good most of the time. They have too much talent to be playing like that and when they have a lot of talent and not a lot of good results it usually is the coaches fault. They need to fix that. Watching the lions play the vikings 2x this year one thing ik is that they have serious problems on that o-line that need fixed before their offense can be very good because they have the players at the skill positions on that side if the ball.

Joined: 01/14/2016

MGoPoints: 70

Naked Bootlegger

January 15th, 2016 at 12:59 PM ^

I concur.   OL needs a fixin'.    You're also looking at it through the lens of a Vikes fan, and the Vikings D kicked a lot of ass this year.   That was an impressive group to watch.

Joined: 01/28/2011

MGoPoints: 34775

Rabbit21

January 15th, 2016 at 9:46 AM ^

Good, firing someone after two years is crazy when he took them to the playoffs his first year and clearly had them playing hard in the second half.  

He has a mixed record from both this and his tenure with the Colts, but I don;t know who the Lions realistically get that would be better and frankly, I'd like to give coaching stability a try and see if it takes.

Joined: 11/12/2009

MGoPoints: 30328

MGoTexas

January 15th, 2016 at 9:49 AM ^

Calvin no doubt hangs up the gear if Caldwell is let go. 

Only way we keep Jim Bob COOTER and Teryl Austin in town.

I think continuity at this point is best. Only the second coach to take Lions to the playoffs THIS CENTURY. Whole team finished strong, not far from a playoff quality roster.

Joined: 11/05/2014

MGoPoints: 148

Reader71

January 15th, 2016 at 9:59 AM ^

I'm not a Lions fan, so their losses do not affect me emotionally. As an impartial observer, I think Caldwell is a good coach for the Lions. 11 wins in year 1 and a total overhaul of the defense. Terrible start to year 2, but he responded well in changing the OC and having a great 2nd half, marred only by that Hail Mary fiasco. But I don't think you fire a successful coach who still has control of the team because of one (really) bad play call. If given time, and if given some competent offensive linemen (the Lions have needed two new offensive linemen for something like 20 years), this is a good team. One that can win consistently.

Joined: 08/30/2009

MGoPoints: 22968

Trader Jack

January 15th, 2016 at 10:10 AM ^

Who did you want them to hire? All of the top candidates have already been hired, and firing Caldwell now would've given Detroit a very late start on a new coaching search. Keeping him for another year is actually smart, and very un-Lions. If he has a good year then that's great. If he has another bad one, you can fire him next year and hire a top candidate.



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Joined: 04/27/2010

MGoPoints: 10620

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

January 15th, 2016 at 10:32 AM ^

And hiring a new coach would be the single biggest decision of Quinn's tenure.  Why not give yourself a year to do that homework instead of doing a rush job on a decision that has to last for several years?  If Caldwell does well, great.  If not, at least Quinn isn't trying to blow through a huge coaching hire in one week.

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 41586

Trader Jack

January 15th, 2016 at 10:58 AM ^

That's kind of my point: I don't know if there will be a guy available next year, but I highly doubt there'd be one left now, especially if the Lions were waiting until now to start the search. I'll take my chances with seeing how Caldwell does this year and hiring a top candidate next year if need be.

You can't criticize the decision to keep him and also have no idea who you'd bring in instead. Who is the guy to "bring in here that has potential?" None of the candidates left seem like better ideas than retaining continuity.



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Joined: 04/27/2010

MGoPoints: 10620

killerseafood3

January 15th, 2016 at 11:41 AM ^

Uh, I'm not qualified to deem who is a good candidate..otherwise I would be a GM. There's no right answer here, but I'm surprised Caldwell has shown enough to make you guys happy. If you are giving him credit for the second half of last year, you better include the cluster of the first half of the season.



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Joined: 12/06/2014

MGoPoints: 32977

Trader Jack

January 15th, 2016 at 12:27 PM ^

If you're not qualified to deem who is and isn't a good candidate, how are you qualified to deem whether the Lions made a mistake by sticking with Caldwell at this point?

It's easy to be the guy that complains about front office decisions. It's not so easy to come up with what the front office you're complaining about should've done instead

Joined: 04/27/2010

MGoPoints: 10620

killerseafood3

January 15th, 2016 at 1:12 PM ^

I don't see any recommendations from you either guy. Seeing Caldwell blow the Green Bay game, in addition to the game management issues he always has, makes it obvious the guy isn't going to take us to a super bowl. Outside of arguing for the sake of arguing, is there anything you want to add to this conversation that actually has substance? Geez, it's a damn message board where people express opinions. You make it seem like the lions will read my post and seriously consider what I have to say.



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Joined: 12/06/2014

MGoPoints: 32977

Trader Jack

January 15th, 2016 at 2:31 PM ^

I'm not you're guy, friend.

I think I've made my recommendation pretty clear: keeping Caldwell for another year. It's funny to me that you're very confident in saying how keeping Caldwell is wrong and it's the same old lions and how can they possibly make such an obviously stupid decision, but then when asked for anything to back that up or any option that you think would have been better, you have no idea. It makes it hard to lend any credence to your original argument, and I think fans like you who harp on front office decisions with no idea what you'd do instead really suck.

Joined: 04/27/2010

MGoPoints: 10620

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

January 15th, 2016 at 10:58 AM ^

This is a team with plenty of talent.  It doesn't need to be imploded and started from scratch.  Despite the "parity" meme, it sure seems the same teams are around in the end every year.  Patriots, Steelers, Broncos, Seahawks, Packers.  Gee, look which teams are still in it, just like last year and the year before and so on.

It's easy to blow things up, just ask the Niners.  It's a lot harder to climb up from the bottom even when you've been having high draft picks year after year.  If starting from scratch worked, the Browns and Jaguars would be champions by now.  This team doesn't need to be torn apart.  It needs a winning culture.  Caldwell is a better option right now than any shot in the dark, and a shot in the dark is literally what you're advocating.

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 41586

boliver46

January 15th, 2016 at 11:43 AM ^


firing Caldwell now would've given Detroit a very late start on a new coaching search.

This is exactly the problem.  The Lions waited too damn long to fire him.  They created this artificial situation where there are "no better options"...quite simply because they waited...

SOL

Joined: 09/14/2012

MGoPoints: -3374

boliver46

January 15th, 2016 at 1:17 PM ^

but they certainly took their sweet time finding one.  They fired the GM how long ago, and it took til this past week to replace him?  If the Patriots were willing to let Quinn go in the middle of the playoffs - Quinn could have been had at any time.

Joined: 09/14/2012

MGoPoints: -3374

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

January 15th, 2016 at 1:47 PM ^

Doubt that.  I think it is in fact an NFL rule that says you can't even ask for interview permission til the regular season is over.  They had Ernie Accorsi advising them.  I'm very sure he knows the rules about interviews and wouldn't have let the Lions fool around til January if they didn't have to.

Joined: 07/02/2008

MGoPoints: 41586

Brodie

January 15th, 2016 at 10:47 AM ^

There was nobody who was going to walk through that door and turn this team around immediately. Look at the hires that have been made so far... nothing that inspiring that the Leos are missing out on here. Giving Caldwell one last shot isn't going to hurt anybody and it gives Quinn time to think through the direction he wants to go in. 

Plus, keeping Jim Bob and Teryl is probably the most important thing in the immediate term. 

Joined: 11/19/2008

MGoPoints: 10713

turtleboy

January 15th, 2016 at 11:24 AM ^

If they fired Caldwell they'd likely lose assistants and find slim pickings available to replace him. Wouldn't really benefit the team at all to fire him right now. Plus I personally believe he's a decent coach. He has the locker room and they improved each game after Lombardi was fired. Right move.

Joined: 04/22/2011

MGoPoints: 35130

turtleboy

January 15th, 2016 at 4:07 PM ^

When would sooner have been? The new gm gave his introductory press conference last weekend, then proceeded to interview his current coaching staff. It would've been not only hugely unprofessional, but frankly stupid to fire Caldwell sight unseen on day 1. Better coaches might be out there, but that'll have to wait for next year.

Joined: 04/22/2011

MGoPoints: 35130

Don

January 15th, 2016 at 11:36 AM ^

but he's the first full-time Lions coach since George Wilson in '57-'58 to have a winning record overall in his first two seasons. So there's that.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 148387

MGoDillon

January 15th, 2016 at 11:42 AM ^

I don't think he's a good coach at all, but idk that there's anyone else out there right now that's right for this team, and they did look good ending the year.

That being said, if he doesn't make the playoffs next year and doesn't have the team looking good and promising, they better shit can his ass. And if things start getting out of hand early next year, don't hesitate to fire him immediately.



Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad

Joined: 08/17/2015

MGoPoints: 1454