January 15th, 2016 at 9:10 AM ^
Personally as a Detroiter (but not a HUGE Lions fan, but a follower) I think that this is a good decision. I am not a fan of the knee jerk coaching carousel that the NFL (and college to an extent) has become. For all intents and purposes, his first season was a success and while his second wasn't - they lost a lot of games on close calls and flukes.
Give him another year to make the playoffs and see what he can do. Plus, this may keep CJ around for a year?
January 15th, 2016 at 9:13 AM ^
They also won a handful games on close calls. That is the NFL. Jim Caldwell does not have a great overall resume IMO. Manning made him look good.
January 15th, 2016 at 9:56 AM ^
January 15th, 2016 at 1:15 PM ^
of course they did /s
January 15th, 2016 at 10:07 AM ^
Usually there are a handful of plays that determine the outcome of a game, not including boneheaded referee errors. The better your talent, the better the chances that those plays go in your favor.
His overall resume still has him with a winning record in the NFL. And name one coach who Manning didn't make look good. Bill Belichick has a losing record as a HC without Tom Brady. Does that mean you don't want Belichick coaching your team unless Brady comes along with him?
January 15th, 2016 at 10:11 AM ^
January 15th, 2016 at 10:44 AM ^
And who made him look good last year? The only real black spot on Caldwell's resume is a season in which he was forced to play 175 year old Kerry Collins at QB, that he did not go 0-16 is a testament to his non-suckage.
January 15th, 2016 at 10:46 AM ^
There was a point in the season where you had to wonder if the Lions would even win 3 games, but Caldwell never lost the team and they finished strong. I think that says something. He deserves the third year, and I don't think he's in way over his head the way 97.1 tries to make him out to be.
January 15th, 2016 at 10:57 AM ^
January 15th, 2016 at 9:11 AM ^
SOL. How do you retain a coach who doesn't know the rule book or understand game managment situations? Hopefully the Ford family did not make the new GM keep him.
January 15th, 2016 at 9:16 AM ^
January 15th, 2016 at 9:25 AM ^
WCF seemed like the type of owner who professed to know a lot about things which he acutally didn't know squat (i.e., running a professional football team).
Martha seems like she's willing to swallow her pride and let professionals do what they get paid to do.
Although I do think that a lot of what happens to Caldwell will depend on what happens to Teryl Austin. That defense seemed to make up for Caldwell's bad decisions throughout this last season.
January 15th, 2016 at 10:14 AM ^
Everyone out there with the exception of the Pats d-coordinator were fired from other positions. Something worked at the end of the season, more than just an easier schedule. So I can see not pulling the trigger yet. If they want McDaniels that badly, they can wait until next season if Caldwell sucks.
If you're putting the Seahawk loss on Caldwell because of batting the ball out of the endzone, how many head coaches would have known that? None of his assistants said anything. I didn't hear the commentators say anything immediately either, and one of them was a SB winning coach (Gruden). That was Calvin's fault for sticking the ball out there.
I think the team is better with Cooter as OC than Lombardi, so it was worth it to lose those games and finally get that guy booted.
January 15th, 2016 at 9:11 AM ^
Yeah, another year of bad game management!!
January 15th, 2016 at 9:12 AM ^
Good move. Lions were one of the hottest teams in the league after they fired Lombardi.
January 15th, 2016 at 9:28 AM ^
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January 15th, 2016 at 10:04 AM ^
And the Lions strength of schedule will be overall easier next year. Caldwell or not, the Lions will probably have a better shot at the playoffs.
January 15th, 2016 at 11:25 AM ^
January 15th, 2016 at 9:54 AM ^
In typical Lion's fashion. I think "momentum" from one season to the next is vastly overrated. At least 40% of the roster turns over, it's almost an entirely new team. We would have been better served losing and picking up an inexpensive high draft pick. The true test will be if Stafford can keep up high level next year when the games actually mean something again, and he is facing pressure to win.
January 15th, 2016 at 11:41 AM ^
January 15th, 2016 at 9:13 AM ^
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January 15th, 2016 at 9:13 AM ^
A lot of open coaching spots out there still....wait until next year, let new GM get the lay of the land...if Levy is healthy and CJ comes back and they get a good OL or 2 - theyu could be 10 0r 11 wins next year. Should have easier schedule.
January 15th, 2016 at 9:13 AM ^
a former Lions coach: Jim Caldwell is still alive!
January 15th, 2016 at 9:14 AM ^
...took some time to make the decision, rather than have a knee-jerk reaction based on the first half of the season.
Sounds like the players really believe in Caldwell, and giving him the axe after two seasons probably wouldn't help player retention in future years.
If Quinn really isn't a "cut-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face" type guy, maybe this bodes well for the Lions. I've had the Honolulu Blues since I've been about 9 years old, and I enjoy having Sunday afternoons to do other things besides watch the Lions. But I sincerely hope that Quinn can flip that script.
January 15th, 2016 at 9:27 AM ^
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January 15th, 2016 at 9:30 AM ^
...Head Coach for the Falcons.
Anti-biotics are messing with my head.
Bob-dobalina Quinn, for the record.
January 15th, 2016 at 11:52 AM ^
The "time" he took was a sham. It was simply to make it appear as if he actually was making a decision - when we all know he was handed Caldwell by ownership from the start.
#NoBalls
#HeCameFromThePatriotsSoMaybeTheyAreJustDeflated
January 15th, 2016 at 9:16 AM ^
That may have been one of Calvin's stipulations to returning.
January 15th, 2016 at 9:18 AM ^
January 15th, 2016 at 9:28 AM ^
I beleive the Lions were the last team to start practice last summer, correct? Caldwell's reason for starting late was to give the team an extra week of summer vacation. Well the Patriots started ASAP as did the Seahaws, etc.
Lions will suck next season and people will say he should have been fired last year.
lather, rinse, repeat...it's the Lions.
January 15th, 2016 at 9:39 AM ^
Not sure exactly on when they started practice and Caldwell has always been a "player's coach".
I still think I'd rather have him versus Josh McDaniels, which was the name that kept coming up since Quinn was hired.
I have zero expectations for the Lions next season. At the very least, Quinn needs to have a good draft in year one.
January 15th, 2016 at 9:27 AM ^
I really hope you are right, but with our luck he will still retire. Sigh.
January 15th, 2016 at 9:18 AM ^
Surprised. Not because I thought Caldwell needed to be fired, but because I thought a new GM like Bob Quinn would want to start his Detroit career with his own choice as coach.
I suspect it was a combination of Quinn feeling he and Caldwell could get along, and knowing that the Fords and several players had publicly expressed approval of Caldwell (who has two more years on his contract anyway).
So that's that. Next comes the more important part: the draft, and whether Quinn & staff can get better players than his predecessors did.
January 15th, 2016 at 10:18 AM ^
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January 15th, 2016 at 11:08 AM ^
January 15th, 2016 at 4:08 PM ^
January 15th, 2016 at 9:21 AM ^
January 15th, 2016 at 9:21 AM ^
I think it may be the right call. While this year was disappointing, I don't feel comfortable pinning that all on Caldwell.
We had a good finish to the year, so it makes sense to keep the staff together and go into next season with some momentum and continuity.
January 15th, 2016 at 9:30 AM ^
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January 15th, 2016 at 9:41 AM ^
Although I agree with your twice made statement, that isn't the entire reason. The offense was completely different under Cooter. Very refreshing to watch them take advantage of mis-matches and see good play design with him running the show. I'd like to see what he can do with an off-season to prepare.
I don't see any reason not to give the coaches another year. It looks like they are headed in the right direction, and there aren't better options right now anyway.
January 15th, 2016 at 10:21 AM ^
January 15th, 2016 at 10:23 AM ^
January 15th, 2016 at 10:52 AM ^
True but I bet his parents would make horrible weather forecasters.
January 15th, 2016 at 9:22 AM ^
I'm ok with it. The year, when taken as a whole, was disappointing but after letting Lombardi go the Lions really began to click. Some continuity here isn't such a bad thing.
January 15th, 2016 at 9:29 AM ^
Sure you were not looking for this one....
/jk
January 15th, 2016 at 9:39 AM ^
I know, more like this....
January 15th, 2016 at 11:08 AM ^
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January 15th, 2016 at 1:37 PM ^
a trout with her mouth wide open like that.