Detroit Lions Weblog

Life After Millen–One Year Later

Today marks a sadly momentous and hopefully, propitious occasion for Lions fans everywhere–The one year anniversary of Matt Millen’s termination.
Bill Ford, Jr. on Matt Millen!

As time progresses, Millen’s dark, doom laden, shadow will no longer cast a pall over the Lions organization. The welled up bile (see Dan, bile is always pertinent when discussing the Lions!) and vitriol among Lions fans may eventually subside, in spite of the early performance of the Martin Mayhew-constructed Lions.

The fact of the matter is, the only remaining Millen-drafted Lion, selected in the draft between 2002 and 2006 is Ernie Sims. Wow! For those of you with short memories, here are some Millen “lowlights”:

The chant began to spread during a college basketball game between Michigan State and Wichita State at The Palace of Auburn Hills on December 10, 2005. It started when ousted Lions coach Steve Mariucci was shown on the big screen, prompting a standing ovation for Mariucci and a loud chant of “Fire Millen!” The following night in Los Angeles, in an NBA game between the Detroit Pistons and Los Angeles Clippers, the chant surfaced late in the 4th quarter at the Staples Center. The chant has also been heard during various Detroit Red Wings games, both home and away, as well as during a college basketball game between Michigan and UCLA. Former Pistons power forward Rasheed Wallace even took part in the chant during a late timeout in a December 16, 2005 game against the Chicago Bulls. A “Fire Millen” sign was shown in the background of a February 3, 2007 broadcast of ESPN College Gameday at the University of Kansas. Fire Millen signs are popular among the students of Grand Valley State University, a division II school in Allendale, MI. One large sign with the “Fire Millen” slogan was removed by NCAA officials at the football national championship in Florence, Alabama.

“Fire Millen” even turned up in a background sign in the sports-oriented comic strip Gil Thorp on February 20, 2006 (’Detroit News ‘columnist Neal Rubin took over as the writer of Gil Thorp in 2004).

The “Fire Millen” chant returned in force to Ford Field during the second half of the 2006 Thanksgiving day game between the Detroit Lions and the Miami Dolphins,[21] when former Lions quarterback and first round pick Joey Harrington (often a scapegoat for the Lions problems) led the Dolphins to a 27-10 hammering of Detroit, dropping the Lions’ record to 2-9. More Fire Millen chants have been heard at wrestling event WWE’s WrestleMania 23 held at Ford Field, and TNA’s Bound for Glory. For 2008 The Fire Millen chants were back in force during the game against the Green Bay Packers.

On December 6, 2005, Detroit sports talk radio station WDFN announced the “Angry Fan March” (also known as the “Millen Man March”) in protest of Millen’s contract extension.

On December 9, 2005, in protest of Millen’s poor record, one Detroit Lions fan site, known as “The Lions Fanatics,” led by owner Dan Spanos organized an “orange out” event, which encouraged Lions fans to show up at Detroit’s Ford Field clad in hunter’s orange, the color of their opponent that week, the Cincinnati Bengals.

On December 24, 2006 another group of fans, lead by Herbert Nicholl Jr. planned a walkout protest towards the end of the first half in the game against Chicago, to express their disgust with the current management.

It all seems like yesterday, doesn’t it, Lions fans?

Here is a bit of info on how bad Millen’s infamous tenure was:

In 2001, Millen left broadcasting to assume the job of the Detroit Lions’ CEO and de facto general manager. At that time, Millen had no prior player development or front office experience.

Since Millen’s arrival in 2001, the Lions were 31–84, 53 games below .500, and had lost nine or more games each season. During the early part of Millen’s tenure (2001–2003), the Lions failed to win a road game for three years (0–24) before opening the season with a win at the Chicago Bears in 2004. Overall, the Lions are 8–50 on the road since 2001. Millen himself admitted to an interviewer in 2008 that the team’s record under his leadership has been “beyond awful”. The Wall Street Journal said that NFL executives admit in private that Millen “has made more bad draft decisions than anyone else in two centuries”.

Despite the team’s record on the field, Matt Millen was the second highest paid general manager in the NFL. With a draft record that included a number of high first-round draft picks who were considered poor choices (Charles Rogers, Joey Harrington, and Mike Williams among them), and widespread disappointment among fans, the media, and even some players, Millen received a five-year contract extension from owner William Clay Ford, Sr. at the start of the 2005 season. Following the team’s 3–13 performance in 2006, Ford announced that Millen would be retained as General Manager for at least another season, because according to inside sources to the Ford family, they still believed that Millen is the best GM that the Lions ever had.

On September 24, 2008, Millen was confirmed to no longer hold his positions with the Lions. Whether he was dismissed or resigned was unclear. It was later reported by a team official that Millen was actually fired.

There will never be another professional sport executive who performed as poorly as Millen again. No executive could survive being broken off, much earlier than Millen was, given the Lions poor performance and the general sad state of affairs around the Lions Allen Park headquarters. In comparison, even George W. Bush will look much better under the kind revisionist’s eye, which usually proves that time can heal nearly all wounds.

Seemingly, the Lions are in a much better position than they were at any time under Matt Millen’s watch. Martin Mayhew has proved to be a shrewder, and much more willing to tinker with the Lions personnel in imaginative ways. He seems to be able to cultivate a deal in a fashion where he is clearly not being made a fool of, unlike Millen.

The one regret, or if I could wind back the clock and change things regret (except for missing this Springer-esque action at Ford Field!), one year after Millen’s termination, that I continue to hold is the awful Shaun “Big Baby” Rogers trade for Leigh Bodden and a wasted draft pick. In spite of Rogers surliness, lack of focus, and poor conditioning, I’d like to imagine, at least for a brief second, what could have been regarding a focused, happy Shaun Rogers, under Jim Schwartz’s watchful eye, within Gunther Cunningham’s defense, where he’d be a near perfect fit. Otherwise, good riddance to the whole, hideous car wreck of a tenure that was Matt Millen’s career as Lion’s team president!