Does Ford Really Have a Better Idea?
NFL Countdown | by Mike O'Hara | 12.22.2008/8:01AM
There has to be more from Lions owner William Clay Ford than the snippet that came out Sunday about his plans for the future of the franchise.
Really, there has to be more, doesn’t there?
We wanted cymbals and bombast from the owner on his plans for the future. Instead, we got what amounts to a violin solo.
In an interview with an enterprising Booth Newspapers reporter before Sunday’s 42-7 loss to the Saints, Ford said he plans to retain general manager Martin Mayhew and chief operating officer Tom Lewand. Ford did not specify their exact job titles, but it is expected their roles will remain largely the same.
It is also expected that a third person will be hired sometime in the next month as part of a front-office troika. Troika, to be clear, is my word, and not Ford’s.
Again, Ford did not specify if the third person would be above, below or equal to Mayhew and Lewand. I’m betting it will be a department head – someone with specific personnel duties in player personnel – who will be under Mayhew and Lewand.
Ford also left open the future of head coach Rod Marinelli, but it will be a shock if he returns, given the team’s 0-15 record this year.
The Lions are a wreck – headed for the ignominy of going 0-16.
Ford’s plans, the Lions’ bid for infamy next Sunday in Green Bay, the last week of what has become a great playoff race, and the star power of rookie quarterbacks Matt Ryan of Atlanta and Joe Flacco of Baltimore are among the issues in the weekly dozen of the Monday Morning NFL Countdown:
1. As they say in television, we start with William Clay Ford. What Ford offered Sunday was a tweak of a franchise that needs much more than that. It’s like putting one of those deodorizer canisters on a pickup truck that’s been sandwiched by two semis.
There has to be more from Ford, doesn’t there? No?
Reading between the lines, there is an underlying message here – that the Lions’ failures are all Matt Millen’s fault. I don’t agree with that, but that’s the message being sent if there isn’t a major overhaul. With Millen out – he was fired on Sept. 24 – the franchise will move Forward.
Actually, I’m not surprised that Ford won’t gut the franchise and start over.
Ford did that once in 2001 – after the disappointment of a final-game loss that left the Lions out of the playoffs with a 9-7 record—when he hired Matt Millen as president. Millen overhauled the front office and coaching staff, and the Lions have been in the worst eight-year swoon in franchise history. Perhaps Ford feels burned by bringing in another chief to run his football team.
The Lions are terribly short on personnel. That has been evident all year, and the disparity was glaring against the Saints. They are not a power team, but they pushed the Lions all over Ford Field, even with nothing at stake.
However, word around the NFL is that the Lions have good scouts, and that the problem has been in selecting players, not evaluating them. The Lions have made serious draft errors, and they didn’t all begin with Millen’s arrival.
Marinelli has to take some blame for the talent deficit. He hand-picked such players as Brian Kelly, Dwight Smith and Chuck Darby. All were brought in this year to strengthen the defense – and a bad defense got worse.
2. Martin Mayhew: He is well regarded in the NFL. He’s bright, thorough, detail-oriented and a hard worker. And he isn’t afraid to say no to coaches, which is vital in front-office management.
3. Scott Pioli: Seven weeks ago, I wrote that Pioli, the head personnel man for the New England Patriots, could be hired away with the right offer. I rated the Lions’ chances of hiring Pioli at 10 percent.
Based on Ford’s comments Sunday, I downgrade that chance to zero percent. None. No young front-office executive with a proven resume is going to leave a winning organization for a loser unless it involves a legitimate promotion. That means a lot of money, and the power to run the football operation.
Other front-office jobs are opening – Kansas City and St. Louis, to name two. Neither would be more attractive than working for Ford in Detroit, except for the fact that Ford’s plans do not include giving the new man the keys to the franchise.
Barring a change of heart by Ford, that rules out Pioli in Detroit.
4. Marketing in ‘09: From now on, only one thing will sell tickets at Ford Field – winning. It won’t be a high-profile draft pick, signing free agents or hiring someone in the front office.
Ford Field was not sold out for five of the last six games. Sunday’s in-stadium attendance was about 35,000 – some 15,000 less than the announced ticket sale. Until this year, every regular-season game had been sold out since Ford Field opened in 2002.
Hiring Pioli would create a buzz, but it wouldn’t sell many tickets, especially under these dire economic circumstances.
Only winning will bring the fans back to Ford Field – whether it’s Mayhew, Pioli or me running the team.
5. Marinelli’s future: Reading between the lines, again, I expect Ford to fire Marinelli. Ford said a decision is open-ended, but that’s probably because he doesn’t want a lame-duck coach, even with only one game left.
Remember this: Ford once told a small group of reporters, me included, late in the 1987 season that he was bringing Darryl Rogers back for another year. If he planned to have Marinelli back, he would have said so.
6. The defense: Nothing has been more amazing on the Lions than the defense’s inability and unwillingness to challenge the opposition. Cornerbacks such as Travis Fisher have played off receivers all year. It doesn’t require anything other than ordinary effort for receivers to get open and catch passes.
All year, the defensive backs have played like they’re protecting a one-point lead. What’s the worst thing that can happen if they actually get up and challenge a receiver? They get beat and lose 42-7 and their record falls to 0-15? Oh, isn’t that what’s happened?
7. Kevin Smith, ’08 draft: The Lions got a steal when they drafted Smith on the third round. He’s gotten better. Smith rushed for 111 yards against the Saints and has 884 for the season. That gives him an outside shot to hit 1,000. Trouble is, the last game is outside – in Green Bay, on the Frozen Tundra, where the Lions haven’t won since 1991.
The Lions got some players in the ’08 draft – Gosder Cherilus, Smith, Cliff Avril and Andre Fluellen. The only clinker – so far – is linebacker Jordon Dizon, the second-round pick.
8. Ryan/Flacco: Matt Ryan (Atlanta) and Joe Flacco (Baltimore) were the first two quarterbacks drafted in April, and both have started every game on teams that are 10-5. The Falcons clinched a playoff berth by winning at Minnesota on Sunday. The Ravens took a step closer by winning at Dallas on Saturday night. Those were big wins, on the road, but the rookie QBs didn’t flinch under the pressure.
The 10 wins for those two young guns match the Lions’ win total since the start of the 2006 season. They’re 10-37.
9. Media Rare: The Cowboys haven’t won a playoff game since the 1995 season, but every week of every season, the national media – make that ESPN – covers this under-performing franchise like it’s the last episode of MASH. Never has so much been written and broadcast about so little.
Never was the disparity of coverage to results more out of whack than Saturday night on the NFL Network. On the network’s postgame show, the first few minutes were all about the Cowboys’ loss, and what it meant to the present and future of the franchise.
It was like the Ravens were tackling dummies who’d been brought in for a training-camp scrimmage. Bizarre.
10. Faltering Favre: A month ago, Brett Favre was an MVP candidate for getting the Jets to 8-3 with a five-game winning streak. Now he’s wearing the goat horns, with three losses in the last four games.
Favre looks old and tired, and it was predictable. His passer rating in the last four games was 60.9, 60.8, 61.4 and 48.7. He has one TD passes, six interceptions and has been sacked nine times.
The Jets are 9-6 and need help to make the playoffs.
The fact that Favre made the AFC Pro Bowl ahead of the Chargers’ Phillip Rivers – who threw four TD passes in a must-win game on Sunday – is a joke.
11. What a great week it was for games, starting with the Colts’ win at Jacksonville on Thursday night. Next up, the Ravens over the Cowboys. And the topper Sunday night – the Giants over the Panthers in overtime.
12. Coaching choice: If Ford stands pat in the front office and decides to make a coaching change, there’s one man for the job: Marty Schottenheimer. He last coached San Diego in 2006 and was fired after a first-round playoff team, despite a 14-2 record in the regular season.
Wherever he goes – Washington, Cleveland, Kansas City, San Diego – Schottenheimer doesn’t need a long rebuilding period to win. And Ford and the Lions cannot stand a long rebuilding period.
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