Detroit Lions Weblog

Welcome to Detroit, Coach Marinelli

Yesterday was new Lion’s Head Coach Rod Marinelli’s true, inauspicious introduction to what it means to be a Lion’s coach. Penalties, turnovers, and a general inclination towards disaster were the order of the day for the Lions at every turn in Soldier Field on Sunday.

As if it weren’t bad enough, the Lions were physically manhandled in every facet of the game, coming off of a week where the team had inspired a certain amount of undeserved hope that it would consistently play with enough physicality and intensity that games like the one that occurred yesterday were no longer part of the Lion’s vernacular. The Lion’s were so thoroughly beaten on Sunday, that now one has to consider the possible reality that last Sunday’s game was the true aberration and not that of the team’s performance on Sunday.

Where do you begin to discuss how bad the Lions were yesterday? On offense, the Offensive Line was horrific. When it wasn’t being penalized, it was serving as a turnstile for the Bear’s front four of the defense to find a clear and direct path to Jon Kitna. The Lions added new personnel in the off-season to one of it’s weakest roster groups, and at least up to this point, there has been no improvement upon the quality of it’s play, whatsoever.

The Lion’s offensive skill players are frauds. If I ever see Roy Williams point down the field (signaling a first down) after achieving a first down in 24-0 game again, after I finish vomiting profusely, I will renouce my future Lion’s fan status. Roy Williams does not appear to have the consistency, make-up, or ability necessary to be a team’s go-to receiver, especially after making a ridiculous pre-game guarantee of victory and touting an offense that has scored 1 touchdown in 2 games now. Kevin Jones has now fumbled 3 times in 2 games. So much for Steve Mariucci’s 5 points of pressure, eh, Kevin?

Most disconcerting (for me), was the play involving Jones just prior to Jon Kitna’s plunge for a TD. If you remember, Kevin Jones was running a sweep heading towards the pylon and what appeared to be a clear TD. From the periphery, you could see Brian Urlacher entering the picture as Jones approached the end zone. Rather than stick his nose towards the goal line and fight for a TD, it was clear to me that Jones wanted to avoid contact with Urlacher and attempt to meekly lay out over the pylon and score his 6 points. This in a nutshell, is the type of play that Rod Marinelli has been clearly attempting to eradicate. This type of play, compounded with a rash of mind-numbing errors is why the Lions are without a doubt, the laughingstock of the entire NFL.

The Lions defense took a major regressive step backwards on Sunday, too. After the Seattle game, most of us were ready to enshrine Shaun “Big Baby” Rogers in Canton, assuming that the Seattle game was a sign of better things to come. Instead, the Lions defensive line never provided any sort of consistent pressure on Rex Grossman, allowing him to drop back and pick apart the vaunted Tampa-Cover-2 zone defense that the Lions have purportedly implemented. If the front four doesn’t provide any consistent pressure, the new defense is rendered obselete because the Lions have to use blitzes and man-to-man coverage as a catalyst to try and generate big defensive plays.

In regards to pressuring the QB, Kalimba “The Ghost” Edwards must be enjoying collecting his off-season pay raise, he has been an absolute non-entity in this defense, thus far. At this point, I am not sure which was the biggest off-season mistake, re-signing Jeff Backus or Kalimba Edwards.

In typical Lion’s fashion, they also used a major error to compound their misery at the absolute worst time (again) on Sunday. The Lions were down 24-7 and Boss Bailey intercepted a Grossman pass and subsequently returned it for a TD. Not so fast, CB Jamar Fletcher, a 6th year veteran committed a hands to the face penalty which nullified the score. In a game where the Lion’s were absolutely out-played and didn’t really deserve any sort of opportunity to remain competitive(24-14, instead of the eventual 31-7), their last hope was snuffed out by a mindless error by someone who should have known better.

At this point, many coaches would tell there team that they need to move on from a performance like Sunday and not let any bad feelings linger from their colossally disappointing performance. In my eyes, what Rod Marinelli needs to focus upon is the complete lack of pride this team exhibited. With 3 and 1/2 minutes remaining, the Bears pinned their ears back and came after Kitna, knowing that the Lions were going to throw on nearly every play. Rather than attempting to draw from some reserve from within themselves and tenaciously fight the Bears, the Lions O-Line continued to let Jon Kitna get brutalized. If I were Kitna, I would have thrown an interception just to get myself out of such a dangerous and yet, meaningless situation.

I don’t know what to say at this point. The Lion’s did a score a TD against a talented Bear’s defense. Jon Kitna played far better and more focused than his teammates deserved in the face of terrible adversity. Is there anything more positive to add in summation to the Lion’s performance Sunday? How do you like your fresh-squeezed lemonade, Rod?