Scott Campbell
09-24-2006, 04:43 PM
FIRE MILLEN
To the Ford family, which has presided over forty-plus years of mediocre-at-best football performances, it's time to admit that you never should have hired Matt Millen to run your team. And then you should fire him.
Now. Right now. Not in November. Not in December. Not January.
Right freaking now.
With three straight losses to start a season in which way too much hope flowed from the over-hyped hiring of Rod Marinelli to be the third head coach in six seasons, the Lions on Millen's watch (if he owns one) are 21 up . . . and 62 down.
Even worse, Sunday's loss came at home against a terrible Packers team, dropping the Lions to 0-3 and, arguably, to the bottom of the entire league with the Raiders.
Given that record of ineptitude, we defy anyone to get through the first two paragraphs of Millen's online bio with a straight face: "With a paramount desire to steer the Lions' franchise in a new direction and rise among the NFL's top-tiered teams, Lions chairman and owner William Clay Ford appointed Matt Millen to the position of president and CEO January 9, 2001. Millen, who begins his fifth year, assumed full control over the team's football operations and has been forging his knowledge and attitude about the game into the team's development since he began directing day-to-day operations of the organization.
"Since Millen's arrival in Detroit, he has re-structured the organization, both on and off the field, with moves that have had a positive impact on the team's goal to claim a Super Bowl crown."
Um. Um. Yeah.
Though we've heard that some of the more questionable decisions of the Millen regime, such as the drafting of Joey Harrington, the hiring of Marty Mornhinweg to be the head coach when Steve Mariucci wasn't available, and the firing of Mornhinweg when Mariucci became available, were ultimately made by ownership and not by Millen, the buck goes no farther than Millen's desk (at which we wonder whether he's done anything other than read old "Tank McNamara" comic strips).
And then there's the decision to use the No. 2 overall pick in 2003 on receiver Charles Rogers, who is the biggest draft bust from Michigan State since Tony Mandarich. The No. 10 overall pick in the 2005 draft, receiver Mike Williams, is another wasted top-ten selection, further proving the notion that forcing bad organizations to exercise early draft picks is hardly a guarantee that they'll get any better, since the bad franchises are more likely to screw up the early picks.
So it's time. Right now. Clean house. Fire Millen. And then, after the season, turn entire control of the football organization over to someone who knows what's he's doing -- not to some former player-turned-broadcaster who merely thinks that he does.
To the Ford family, which has presided over forty-plus years of mediocre-at-best football performances, it's time to admit that you never should have hired Matt Millen to run your team. And then you should fire him.
Now. Right now. Not in November. Not in December. Not January.
Right freaking now.
With three straight losses to start a season in which way too much hope flowed from the over-hyped hiring of Rod Marinelli to be the third head coach in six seasons, the Lions on Millen's watch (if he owns one) are 21 up . . . and 62 down.
Even worse, Sunday's loss came at home against a terrible Packers team, dropping the Lions to 0-3 and, arguably, to the bottom of the entire league with the Raiders.
Given that record of ineptitude, we defy anyone to get through the first two paragraphs of Millen's online bio with a straight face: "With a paramount desire to steer the Lions' franchise in a new direction and rise among the NFL's top-tiered teams, Lions chairman and owner William Clay Ford appointed Matt Millen to the position of president and CEO January 9, 2001. Millen, who begins his fifth year, assumed full control over the team's football operations and has been forging his knowledge and attitude about the game into the team's development since he began directing day-to-day operations of the organization.
"Since Millen's arrival in Detroit, he has re-structured the organization, both on and off the field, with moves that have had a positive impact on the team's goal to claim a Super Bowl crown."
Um. Um. Yeah.
Though we've heard that some of the more questionable decisions of the Millen regime, such as the drafting of Joey Harrington, the hiring of Marty Mornhinweg to be the head coach when Steve Mariucci wasn't available, and the firing of Mornhinweg when Mariucci became available, were ultimately made by ownership and not by Millen, the buck goes no farther than Millen's desk (at which we wonder whether he's done anything other than read old "Tank McNamara" comic strips).
And then there's the decision to use the No. 2 overall pick in 2003 on receiver Charles Rogers, who is the biggest draft bust from Michigan State since Tony Mandarich. The No. 10 overall pick in the 2005 draft, receiver Mike Williams, is another wasted top-ten selection, further proving the notion that forcing bad organizations to exercise early draft picks is hardly a guarantee that they'll get any better, since the bad franchises are more likely to screw up the early picks.
So it's time. Right now. Clean house. Fire Millen. And then, after the season, turn entire control of the football organization over to someone who knows what's he's doing -- not to some former player-turned-broadcaster who merely thinks that he does.