Detroit Lions Weblog

The Ford’s and Millen are Convenient Bedfellows in the Latest Lions Disaster

Drew Sharp, the high profile, acerbic Detroit Free Press columnist, may have coined it best when he stated that “mediocrity is a virtue”within the dysfunctional Lions organization.

The Lions, with all of their well-documented organizational struggles, have routinely accepted mediocrity in their many vain attempts to establish an organizational foothold, or establish a more solid foundation, with which they can build some respectability upon. Unfortunately, without sound organizational principles, and the ability to evaluate what constitutes qualified personnel, they have swung and miss, time and time again, in their decision-making.

The decision to promote Jim Colletto and Kippy Brown on the surface may make sense, but it rings of the Ford’s inability to act swiftly and disturb the organizational status quo, which all too often has been more of an exercise in settling for, rather than demanding, the very best from all of their employees throughout the organization.

It is well past the time where the Ford’s should begin issuing public edicts about the state of the franchise and it’s future direction. With Matt Millen’s 31-81 tenure staring them in the face, where have the Ford’s been in enacting change in this matter? As for the Lions, and Millen, who continue to flounder horribly, where is the necessary accountability being placed?

Unfortunately, the Ford’s, due to their close (and admittedly creepy) relationship with Millen, have been all too willing to allow parties who are only partially responsible for the team’s failings to serve as convenient, public targets for the failure of the entire franchise.

Are we supposed to continue to buy into, and accept, that the annual coaching and personnel turnover will serve as a quick remedy for the organization’s many ills? How many coaches and players will pass through before the Ford’s look into a mirror and realize that they are ultimately responsible for the demise of their franchise?

Matt Millen is easily the worst executive in all of professional sports and serves as the leader of the worst franchise in all of professional sports. His failure is indefensible and unless the Ford’s are willing to put his job on the line, the situation will continue to get worse before it gets better.

In regards to Sharp’s article, I agree that Jon Kitna is no long term answer for the Lions at Qb. That being said, I think he lays too much blame upon Kitna.

He says:

In the Lions last five wins Kitna averaged 25 passes thrown with 4 TD’s and 1 INT in those games. In the last seven losses, Kitna averaged 42 throws and threw 8 TD’s and 13 INT’s.

In this regard, as the Lions season unraveled, and Kitna’s preseason prediction of 10 wins came into question, it stands to reason that Kitna likely attempted to do too much, and was asked to shoulder too much of the load, in the failing Lions offense.

Still, I believe that is a little unfair to Kitna. When you consider that Jeff Backus and George Foster alone allowed a combined 31 sacks, and with the season long demise of the Lions defense, Kitna operated in a near constant stage of crisis, within an offense that was helmed by a megalomaniac who routinely allowed the team to become one dimensional, against all common sense.

Kitna is far from perfect, but he is far from the team’s biggest issue, too. I don’t believe that a better offensive line will make Kitna transform into Peyton Manning-quality of performer, but I do believe that the Lions fortunes would have been different with better offensive line play. The defense generally backed the Lions offense into a corner, too.

There will be a lot of turnover this off season. I expect that Kalimba Edwards and Shaun Cody will be released and Boss Bailey will not be re-signed. These all constitute major draft busts for Millen. It would not surprise me to see Jeff Backus and Shaun Rogers also eventually removed from the roster. Both are expensive, and have not provided the consistency or quality of play to match their contract dollars.

In regards to Rogers, who has become the face of the organization of sorts, the Lions may be so bereft of talent on defense that they may need to retain him, and his 5-6 quality games a season, because they will have far too many holes to fill on that side of the ball.

Many have wondered publicly if it would be worthwhile for the Lions to invest a 1st and 3rd rounder to acquire Browns QB Derek Anderson, who is coming off of a break out performance this season. The very thought scares me, because it reeks of the type of move Millen may try to make. Anderson hasn’t proven that he could be much better than Kitna, when you consider the quality of the Browns O-Line, and the playmakers he has been surrounded with.

The more cogent move, in my eyes, would be start talks with the New York Jets. The Lions have two valuable pieces that they could utilize, Shaun Rogers would make an excellent 3-4 NT, and Roy Williams would provide Kellen Clemens with a valuable playmaker. The Jets have MLB Jonathan Vilma and DT DeWayne Robertson, who are both unhappy and ill-fitting in the Jets 3-4 defense and would upgrade the Lions defense immediately.

In regards to the QB position, Todd Collins, of Walpole, MA and University of Michigan fame, is a free agent, who has enjoyed a remarkable season in Washington, in limited playing time, who would provide an experienced backup who might eventually compete with Jon Kitna, providing Drew Stanton with some more valuable developmental time, which may eventually prove dubious, anyhow, if initial reports on Stanton’s time thus far with the Lions holds true.
Then the Lions could place an organizational focus upon upgrading left offensive tackle, in a draft rich with prospective talent at that position, and either release Jeff Backus or move him to guard or right tackle, where he could serve as a steady presence and inflict less damage. One thing is for certain, Matt Millen is going to have find immediate help in the ‘08 draft and not select so many high-ceiling projects, because the Lions have struggled to develop this type of talent and have received little payoff from this practice.