If there’s an economic crisis going on, you wouldn’t know it from the mood in town today. After one losing season after another and countless poor administrative moves, Matt Millen has been relieved of his duties from the Detroit Lions. For now, the “Fire Millen” signs can be put away or reworded to say “Fire Ford”, “Fire Lewand”, “Fire Marinelli” or perhaps “Fire Everybody”. As former teammate Mark Schlereth said earlier, “he (Millen) made some of the worst personnel moves I have ever seen in my time (20+ years) in the NFL.”
31-84 will forever shape the stained legacy of Millen in Detroit. He was brought with high praise to a team that was stuck in mediocrity-ville. With hopes he would take his 3 Super Bowl knowledge and shape that into winning football, he did completely the opposite. He once sniffed a seven game winning season. He also nearly saw his team go 0-16. His poor coaching choices will forever be brought up as a major question along with his knack for finding the most injury-prone receiver in the first round. Everything he did failed miserably, somehow earning an incredible extension a few years back.
With this move clearly the first of many until Fall 2009, it will be curious to see which domino falls next. The team has rid itself of its most obvious problem and now must decide what trash needs to go next.