After a season in which the faithfully mediocre Detroit Lions showed significant improvement, it comes as a surprise to many that this team has yet to find even mild success this season. Based on their track record through the years, however, it probably shouldn't. I must admit even I didn't expect this team to free fall so readily, as it's clear the work has been put in over the off-season to improve this team. A firing or two isn't going to fix this problem, but then again it couldn't hurt much, could it? Let's take a look at what could be wrong with this perennial failure.
Much of the blame for the lack of success has to fall on the shoulders of the defense. In the off-season the Lions attempted to right the ship on some of their defensive woes by trading away oft-troubled DT Shaun Rogers for a quality cornerback in Leigh Bodden. Apparently, it didn't take. This team has not allowed less than thirty points in each of it's first four games. That's 31st in the league, and I don't even want to think about who's got a worse total than that. The D-line has only managed to get four sacks in four games, while the opposing defense has taken sixteen. They might be missing Shaun Rogers right about now. Additionally, the Lions are still waiting for their first interception of the season while the opposing defenses have already taken seven away. Oh yes, and total yards allowed? The Lions are dead last at 32nd. As they say, the best offense is a good defense, and this team is missing theirs.
Of course, teams manage to win with horrid defenses from time to time (Atlanta, for one), so there must be some trouble on the other side of the ball. To begin with, the teams rushing totals are 31st in the league, and again, I don't want to think about who could be worse than them. In my Divisional Analysis I pointed out that this team lacks running talent, but that was before they picked up Rudi Johnson. Let's just say my mind hasn't changed much. The Lions starter, rookie Kevin Smith, is averaging 3.6 yards-per-carry, a total which is a whole yard short of an acceptable average. But, you may asking yourself, what about that multitude of first round receivers from the past five years or so? Well, Charles Rogers and Mike Williams can't even help themselves at this point (both are no longer with...any team, for that matter). Roy Williams is a non-factor, and Calvin Johnson is about the only solid performer in Detroit. Of course, he's not exactly having a Pro Bowl year just yet, and there's one good reason for that. Calvin needs a capable quarterback to throw him the ball. In order for Kitna to be capable of throwing the ball to Calvin, he needs a decent O-line. It's a horrible circle that starts and ends with incompetency. This team was absolutely foolish to fire Mike Martz. He went to San Francisco with the Lions' former third-string quarterback. They've won two games, are sadly second in their division, and that former third-stringer is a starting quarterback in a throw-happy system. Sure would come in handy now what with that terrible running game and all. It's just another example of placing the blame where it isn't due. Matt Millen was driven out of town and this might be a good choice. He was in charge of this fiasco after all. His replacement will have a lot of work to do. Marinelli has insisted that he has no intentions of quitting regardless of how bad things get, but someone may be making that decision for him sooner or later. This team needs to go the way of Miami or New Orleans a few years back and go for a total overhaul in order to once again be relevant and bring some football glory to Motor City.
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