Lions hire Jim Schwartz

And a dead-end, too. One of theTV networks (too many to keep track of these days) noted that since William Clay Ford bought the Lions, NO HEAD COACH has ever gone on to have another head coaching job in the NFL.

Not Monte Clark, not Wayne Fontes, not Bobby Ross,not Marty Morningweg, not Steve Mariucci, no one. Given the way the NFL recycles coaches, that struck me as absolutely staggering.

 

That is amazing. I'm not going to claim to know anything about Monte Clark, but Fontes lasted as long as he did largely because Barry Sanders liked him. The Mornhinweg (sp) hire was a joke. Mooch was doomed to fail when Millen made him stick with Harrington, who Mooch wanted out immediately. Marinelli had never been a coordinator if I'm not mistaken.

A lot of bad hires by a really bad organization, that should know better.

I was actually optimistic that they might do a big move and get Pioli or bring in a big name to turn things around, but as soon as they promoted from within to the GM role, it was obvious that this team isn't getting better anytime soon.

Plus, a draft that at one point looked like it was going to have a ton of talent, is not-so-rich anymore, especially for teams drafting in the top five. They pretty much have to take a tackle or reach for a quarterback. I'm guessing the Lions aren't stupid enough to take a receiver with the No. 1 pick, even though Crabtree is one of the top five players available.

 

I share the firey hot hatred of Matt Millen as much as the next guy.
But, and I'm not being confrontational with this but curious, just because Mayhew was an assistant under Millen, does that mean he'll be as worthless as Millen. Or, will he be a vast improvement because he knows what not to do.

 

Well if Jim Schwartz learned anything from his boss it is that all you need to do to be considered a legend in coaching is be a nice guy and hang around for 15 years without ever winning a Super Bowl......

 

Point taken, but hanging around 15 years as an NFL head coach is a pretty amazing achievement these days. The exteme vast majority of coach find themselves left hanging out to dry long before that.

 

Let's not pretend Fisher hasn't done anything in Tennessee. No, he hasn't won a title, but he's been consistently good, which in the NFL is tough to do.

 

The average NFL coach lasts 3.5 years. To last a decade or more is an accomplishment under any level of circumstances.

 

He worked alongside Millen for eight years. During that time span, 95% of Millen's decisions were utter idiocy.

Either Mayhew,

a) agreed with the majority of these decisions,

b) if he disagreed with the decisions, his objections were so feeble and inconsequential so as to have no effect.

The operative presumption is that Mayhew is an idiot.

If he wasn't, don't you think about 3-4 years ago, given the obvious fact by that juncture that Millen was a massive fuckup and was taking the franchise into the tank, Mayhew would have marched into Millen's office and said, "Look Matt, I love ya like a brother, fraternity of the locker room and all that, but unfortunately almost all of your decisions have been idiotic, either stop making them, or I am going to go work for a real football team?"

 

I doubt the Lions are thinking Super Bowl, at least not in the foreseeable future. Last playoff appearance was, what, 2000?

Last playoff win was, what, 1991 over Dallas? (Gosh,am I overlooking one somewhere, or has it really been that long?).