The Detroit Lions. One of the worst teams, if not the worst team, by record in the National Football League. Speaking of records, let's go down the list from just the last, oh, five years or so. In 2006 they went 3-13, in 2007 wow, they damn near won the Superbowl with that shy of amazing 7-9 record, in 2008.....woo, we're just gonna skip this season and jump straight to their 2010 almost decent 6-10 record. That's a pretty sad walk down memory lane. So why is it that season after season the Detroit Lions suck so bad? Is it the coaches? Is it the players? Well actually, its not as much the players and coaches, especially considering that this year they barely lost a large portion of the games that they did lose. I'm going to go out on a limb and say their problem stems directly from their owner, William Clay Ford, Sr. See Mr. Clay kind of just got handed the team, based off of some financial mismanagement within the Ford family. Basically, the team makes him money regardless of its record, so he doesn't really give two shits about the well being of the organization. None of the coaches picked under Ford have gone on to coach at another team. Ford would never hire a coach like Shula who knows what he's doing, but instead a coach like Wayne Fontas who doesn't know his ass from his elbow. Year after year, they've had the first draft pick, which as cool as it sounds, is actually NOT a good thing at all. This means they have to throw tons of money to a newcomer every year that might not be able to save them from themselves. Quite honestly, this whole NFL lockout is going to be a big deal to the Lions, until they can get a handle on the rookie salary cap. Players like Matt Stafford are the ones getting bent over in this whole deal. He's a decent quarterback, but because the team is screwed up from the roota to the toota, he's stuck with a team owner that is complacent with losing AND he can't leave until his contract plays out.
But back to Mr. Ford, the man who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, that really didn't have to work hard a day of his life for anything he has. Let's not even begin to mention that he knows absolutely nothing about team ownership. He passed up the opportunity to hire a new General Manager in 2009 who could've completely restructured the organization. Let's be honest though, he's an old geyser, and old geysers don't like any change. Especially considering that he hasn't made any in the 47 years that's he's had the Lions. As long as his seats are filled on Sunday, he's happy.
Well, here's a glimmer of hope for the Lions: Ford is 85 years old...so not trying to state the obvious but the Lions just may have to wait him out if you catch my drift. The Lions actually DON'T have the number one pick this year, so they can hopefully save some money and make some better decisions, but that will partially depend on the agreement the owners and players come to regarding this lockout. But that brings us back to the Lions owner and his poor decision making. For the first time in years, the Lions could walk away from the draft standing in a better position than ever. Let's hope they make wise decisions and not screw this up and maybe actually even get a wildcard spot, which to them would probably be like winning the Superbowl. Ford better hope that after the draft the Lions show more promise than ever, because he has the most dedicated fans in the entire league. However, I'm almost positive they won't stick through too much more of his crap.
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