0401200387
DETROIT FREE PRESS
040120
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
METRO FINAL
1C
MITCH ALBOM FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
Copyright (c) 2004, Detroit Free Press
TIME FOR FORD TO GET MAD OVER INEPT LIONS
While many people were happy to see the Carolina Panthers make the Super Bowl,
Lions owner William Clay Ford should not be one of them.
In fact, he should be mad as heck.
He should be mad that a team like the Carolina Panthers, a virtual baby in NFL
history, will play the first weekend in February, while the Lions, who have
never seen a Super Bowl, again went home in December.
He should be mad that John Fox, Carolina's coach, is in only his second year
on the job, yet is the last man standing in the NFC. He should be mad that Fox
inherited a team that had -- if this is possible -- a worse record than the
Lions'. The Panthers were 1-15. Yet in Fox's first year, they improved to 7-9
-- a record the Lions haven't seen since 2000, when their coach walked out
during a 9-7 season.
Ford should get mad that Fox was plenty available a few years ago, when Matt
Millen instead hired the great Marty Mornhinweg. Insiders knew Fox was a
bright defensive mind as an assistant with the Giants. But did the Lions pick
him?
No. They chose Marty, who came here, lost 27 of 32 games, inspired laughter
during news conferences and was gone like a comic who bombed.
Ford should get mad at that.
Does he?
He should get mad that Mornhinweg is now on the staff of the Philadelphia
Eagles, a charitable move by Marty's friend Andy Reid. Reid was asked recently
about Mornhinweg, and the way I read it, the most shining thing he said was
"he's another pair of eyes for us."
Great. In Philly, he's a pair of eyes. In Detroit, he was the man to lead the
team?
We're waiting for some anger.
Where is it?
For starters, Davis instead of Stewart
Ford should get mad that the Panthers signed running back Stephen Davis after
the Redskins dumped him. The Lions spent all year looking for a running back
after James Stewart went out. Sure, no one could predict Stewart's injury, but
wouldn't you rather have Davis, who is two years younger, as your running back
-- even if it meant losing Stewart? Especially since Davis signed for less per
season than the Lions pay Stewart?
Of course it's not just the Panthers' success that should leave Ford fuming.
Shouldn't he be bothered that the Dallas Cowboys, in one year, went from
also-ran to the playoffs? Does anyone have any doubt these Cowboys will see a
Super Bowl long before the Lions?
Shouldn't he be bothered that perpetual also-ran Cincinnati now seems more
together -- in one season with Marvin Lewis as coach -- than the Lions do?
Shouldn't Ford be bothered that eight teams made the playoffs this season that
didn't make them last season? Eight new slots -- and the Lions were never in
contention?
Shouldn't Ford be bothered that for two years now, he has had a top-three
draft pick -- and this year he'll have No. 6 -- yet nobody is picking the
Lions as a team of the future?
Shouldn't Ford be bothered that the star of Sunday's NFC championship was a
Carolina rookie named Ricky Manning, a defensive back -- the Lions' weakest
area -- who wasn't chosen until the third round, with the 82nd pick? The Lions
could have taken him with their third-round pick. Instead they took defensive
lineman Cory Redding (who played in only half of the games this season), and
signed and cut one cornerback after another.
Ford could get mad at all that. He could really get steamed.
Well?
At the bottom of division
Or, if he wanted, the owner could get mad at this: The balance of power in his
division has changed for everyone but him.
Despite the inevitable lift and sink of franchises, the Lions are perpetually
behind Green Bay or Minnesota, and in recent years, even Chicago and Tampa
Bay. Since 1999, every team in the Lions' division has made the playoffs --
except the Lions. Every team in their conference -- except Arizona and
Washington -- has made the playoffs since then, too.
How can Detroit possibly hope to win a Super Bowl when it can't even master
its own backyard?
Now. Is it any one of these things that, all by itself, ruined the Lions? No.
Do some of these things ever happen to other teams? Of course.
But they don't all happen. They don't all keep happening. Yes, the Lions,
under coach Steve Mariucci, are trying new things -- hiring Dick Jauron as
defensive coordinator is one of them. But for now their pathetic tradition
continues. And their owner ought to be sick of it.
He ought to be watching these playoffs and saying: "The Carolina (bleeping)
Panthers? Why them and not us?"
Sadly, I doubt he is saying that. Sadly, let's be honest, how many of us are
sure he's even watching these playoffs? You have to get mad before you get
even. And if the owner of our sadly predictable football franchise isn't angry
over what's happening everywhere in the NFL but here -- well, I can point him
to a million fans who are.
Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or albom@freepress.com. Catch "The Mitch
Albom Show" 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760).
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