Every year, we hear some delusional Lions player or coach come out and talk about the fighting spirit of the team and how this is a breakthrough year. The year … to the Super Bowl, winning 10 games, or maybe winning the NFC North.

This [...]]]> Can we just stop the madness?

Every year, we hear some delusional Lions player or coach come out and talk about the fighting spirit of the team and how this is a breakthrough year. The year … to the Super Bowl, winning 10 games, or maybe winning the NFC North.

This year, it’s Quarterback Daunte Culpepper’s job to do so.

If you wonder why I’m so cynical about this, you must not have lived in Detroit for the past 10 years, where our football team has gone from perennial 7-9 also rans to consistent 3-13 overachievers.

I don’t know what my prediction is for this team, but I can guarantee you that by Thanksgiving, it doesn’t matter if the Lions win or lose.

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While Stafford is clearly endowed with a wealth of potential and talent, it remains to be seen whether the Detroit Lions organization has the resources that can [...]]]> Proving that organizations, like humans, don’t always learn from their mistakes, the Detroit Lions selected University of Georgia Quarterback Matt Stafford with the first pick in Saturday’s NFL draft.

While Stafford is clearly endowed with a wealth of potential and talent, it remains to be seen whether the Detroit Lions organization has the resources that can help Stafford develop to his fullest.

The Lions have a mixed track record in developing young offensive players and their culture of under-investment in players doesn’t help. Like many of the fans in attendance at Ford Field, I agree that it would have been smarter to draft defensive talent and stock the offense through trades and free agency.

The opportunity to acquire a player like Jay Cutler was a blown opportunity. If the Lions had acquired Cutler, they could have traded down their number one pick and made more selections later in round one and round two. The holes in the Lions roster are many and spreading additional talent across key positions needs to be the goal of the management and coaching staff.

As a Lions fan, I want to remain optimistic that the team has an effective master plan in place. However, I remember the big words and hopes when “Piano” Joey Harrington was drafted in 2002. And we all know how that turned out.

Like many of you, I’m on pins and needles waiting to see which fresh-faced optimist [...]]]> Martin “I’m not Millen” Mayhew suggested that the Lions know who they will make the number one pick in Saturday’s NFL draft and went as far as to suggest that they will have a deal with said draft pick before Saturday.

Like many of you, I’m on pins and needles waiting to see which fresh-faced optimist the Lions choose, only to drown his boyish dreams in a sea of micro-management and incompetence. Fortunately, the Wings, Pistons and Tigers are keeping us all busy this week.

Here’s a blurb from ESPN.com on the subject:

Lions general manager Martin Mayhew, though, said Tuesday the chances were “very good” an agreement will be reached with a player to be determined before the NFL draft.

“We plan on getting something done prior to making that selection,” he said.

Mayhew declined to say much else during a news conference with just under 100 hours left on the clock before the first pick is made Saturday.

via Detroit Lions expect deal with top pick before draft day – ESPN.

I’m wondering why anyone in Detroit thinks Cutler would agree to a move to the Lions. The team and organization have not yet proven that they have a working plan for rebuilding. And even [...]]]> According to SI.com, the Lions are the fourth-most motivated team to land Jay Cutler, behind the Jets, the Buccaneers and the Browns.

I’m wondering why anyone in Detroit thinks Cutler would agree to a move to the Lions. The team and organization have not yet proven that they have a working plan for rebuilding. And even with the Millen fiasco behind us, we still have the perception that the Fords under-invest in the team while micromanaging the coaching staff. Not a recipe for success in today’s NFL.

Here’s the excerpt from SI.com about the Lions:

More than anyone in this year’s draft, the Lions have the ammo to come after Cutler, as they own the No. 1, No. 20 and No. 33 picks and five of the top 82 overall. New Lions head coach Jim Schwartz has made ending the team’s decades-long nightmare at quarterback a top priority, but I still get the sense he doesn’t love his options at that position in this year’s draft. Schwartz may be a bit wary of Cutler after seeing the way this melodrama has played out the past five weeks, and if so, he should just stand pat and see what unfolds in the draft. But Detroit could exponentially quicken the pace of its rebuilding program with a proven quarterback in hand, and that might make Cutler irresistible.

via New York Jets, Cleveland Browns most motivated to land Jay Cutler – Don Banks – SI.com.

He’s out of town but he is not yet off of our televisions. Former Lions General Mangler Matt Millen, hired as an “expert” analyst of professional football by perennial ratings wallflower NBC a few weeks ago after architecting the league’s worst-ever team, has not managed to move that network’s ratings to fourth place, yet.

In a [...]]]>

He’s out of town but he is not yet off of our televisions. Former Lions General Mangler Matt Millen, hired as an “expert” analyst of professional football by perennial ratings wallflower NBC a few weeks ago after architecting the league’s worst-ever team, has not managed to move that network’s ratings to fourth place, yet.

In a sign of “Times are tough and we will hire anyone for the right price,” NBC Sports’ Chairman Dick Ebersole called Millen “one hell of a broadcaster.”

Read the full coverage at freep.com, if you can stand the sound of your own laughter.

This year is a bit different. The Lions [...]]]> We’ve seen a similar pattern in every year of the Millen regime. Matt and Lions-coach-of-the-moment start off training camp with cliches such as “This is a great bunch of guys” and “We’re going to work harder” and then, once the season starts, we are all returned to reality.

This year is a bit different. The Lions did have an impressive, if meaningless, 4-0 record in the preseason. But when you can’t even compete against the post-Michael Vick Atlanta Falcons in the season opener, you’ve really got to wonder if you have any chance at all.

I have no doubt that this team will continue towards a 6-10 season, at best. Kitna is simply not a starting NFL QB, even on the Detroit Lions. But realistically…with the ownership and management of this team, what starting NFL QB would want the job?