I’ll be honest. If I would have written this posting at the end of the first quarter of yesterday’s Detroit Lions game, it would have read a bit differently.
The Lions were getting trounced by Brady Quinn and the Browns while looking shell-shocked in the process. Yes, these were the Browns that have only gotten worse since their 10-win season of two years ago. While today’s Lions win was partly due to the grit of an injured Matthew Stafford, the win should be marked on behalf of a bad Browns franchise.
Much like Rod Marinelli was a poor choice for a reeling Lions team, Eric Mangini was a disasterous choice for the Cleveland Browns. The team culture that he inherited in 2009 with the Browns was tremendously different from the Jets team he led to 10 wins in 2006. Browns team management is in such a mess right now that team decisions are being made by individuals who want to take the team in wildly different directions. The team that jumped to a 21-point lead on the Lions early on, was a demonstration of two bad teams jostling back and forth.
After all, it was the Lions just a few weeks ago that fell flat against a winless St. Louis Rams team. Stafford threw for zero touchdowns that day, compared to the five that found the endzone against the Browns. He has shown that he has the ability to lead this team well into the future, while taking some risks in the process. His pass at the end of the game could potentially go down in Detroit football lore depending on how things go for the rest of Stafford’s Lions career.