Detroit Lions Weblog

Martz Fired, Colletto and Brown Promoted

Finally, and not too surprisingly, Lions Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz was terminated today. The Lions Offensive Line coach Jim Colletto and Wide Receivers coach Kippy Brown were promoted to co-offensive coordinators.

In regards to this move, Brown and Colletto are seasoned coaches, however, it remains to be seen just how much of Martz’s system will be retained, and how many changes will eventually be implemented. It stands to reason, that they will be utilizing more running plays than Martz chose to use.

Colletto, with his close alliance to the offensive line personnel, will have a major impact on any changes that are eventually made to the offense. The offensive linemen have been the most dissatisfied offensive personnel group under Martz, because they were unhappy with the design of their blocking schemes and Martz’s heavy emphasis on passing the ball.

I am happy the Lions were decisive and moved quickly with this situation, however, I believe that should the Dolphins decide to fire Head Coach Cam Cameron, that he would have made an excellent candidate to replace Martz.

The bigger issue remains, how do you resuscitate the team’s faith in the offense, given it’s failings, to the point where they will not look askance at the system when they are presented with it entering the ‘08 season. The Lions offense plain stunk as the season wound down, and everyone other than Kitna, who was loyal to Martz until the very end, would have good reason to question the efficacy of the offensive design.