Took Ya Long Enough

By: Harvey

The Detroit Lions franchise ended one of the longest-running jokes in the NFL today when they announced the end of Matt Millen's tenure as team President and CEO. Good move, if it was say...2003. As it stands, owner William Clay Ford doesn't look any smarter because it took him 7+ years to realize the guy was inept in this particular capacity.

Millen took over the day-to-day operations of the Lions back in 2001, and to show his gratitude he put together teams that went a combined 31-84. That's why Jon Kitna sounds like such a douche when he guarantees 10 wins before every season. At their average pace since Millen took over, it would take the Lions 36-37 games to accumulate 10 wins. That'd be one long season.

Reading the AP story this afternoon, there's a lot of unbelievable stuff. Here's a quote I love from team vice chairman Bill Ford, Jr. (daddy is the chairman, see) from when he announced his hiring of Millen in 2001:

""I'm willing to stake my reputation on Matt's success."

"We've been pretty much stuck on dead center for quite a few years," William Clay Ford said when Millen was hired. "Matt offers us an opportunity to move ahead."

Well, your reputations are now brownish in color and currently circling the bowl on their way into a sewer somewhere, boys. Oh yeah, and Fords are piece-of-shit vehicles, too.

Anyway, here's what Billy had to say Monday after having more than seven years to think it over:

"I think the fans deserve better," Bill Ford told reporters on Monday. "And if it were in my authority, which it's not, I'd make some significant changes."

Well, I suppose the first step to fixing a problem is to admit you have one. Even if it takes you three times as long as it takes your fans (see picture above) to realize it.

There was a collective "son of a bitch" emitted from fans around the rest of the NFC North with this announcement...is it possible that sometime in the near future the Lions won't be regarded as two easy wins on the schedule? One can only hope it doesn't come true. Every league needs its laughingstock, and I'm starting to get the feeling that as long as somebody named Ford is calling the shots at the top...we'll still get to mark Detroit down as a gimme for quite a little while yet.