A player you just sent packing a number of weeks ago is calling for you to not win a game, your starting quarterback was signed just a week ago, and you are first in line to claim any player off waivers since you have the worst record in the entire league. That has been the story recently for the Detroit Lions this season. Sure there is more, such as Jon Kitna being placed on ir, the team firing their gm not even halfway through the season, but those stories are for another day. This story, the big story, is that the Lions are at 0-9 and staring the '76 Bucs right in the face. 0-14 is hard to come by let alone going 0-16. The Miami Dolphins almost accomplished that last year but was able to get their first win in mid-December after beginning the year at 0-13. "It was a win to keep us from having to tell our grand-kids that we were on an 0-16 team because you still see pictures from the old Tampa Bucs in those orange uniforms. That kept us from being a negative part of history," Dolphins Greg Camarillo said. For the Lions they may become a part of that history.
Roy Williams was shipped out to Dallas a little over a month ago and the team did make good on the trade acquiring the Cowboys 1st round pick and them some, but Williams is still tied to the Lions this year if you ask him. “They’re staring 0-16 in the face right now, just going by the schedule,” said Williams. “I hope it doesn’t happen, because I think I’m still a part of that team, too. I started out with that team, so if they go 0-16, I’ve got an asterisk by my name on that team. I hope they don’t go 0-16.” That hope should really be a prayer if you take a look at the last 7 remaining games. The Lions’ remaining schedule includes home games against Tampa Bay, Tennessee, Minnesota and New Orleans and road trips to Carolina, Indianapolis and Green Bay. Tampa Bay nearly lost to a really bad Chiefs team a couple of weeks ago and there's always the chance that a win-less team could sneak up behind a unbeaten foe and snag a victory (see the '02 Bengals vs Chiefs contest). But when reality kicks in the facts are the facts. The Lions are bad and their schedule is difficult. One can only imagine what players such as Drew Brees, Steve Smith, Earnest Graham, Chris Johnson, Adrian Peterson (again), or even Kerry Collins will do to this team. Their roster is mangled, their quarterbacks either new or inexperienced, their starting running back just a rookie 3rd round pick. Where is the hope? Probably there is none, but one can be optimistic can't they? Of course and just for instance this version of the Detroit Lions would blow out the '76 Bucs by at least a couple of touchdowns. For all the Lions fans out there I feel your pain, for Barry Sanders I'm glad you retired long ago, but for the Detroit Lions franchise please don't win a game.
Futility can be a fan's best friend. A team is awful, horrendously bad, and for the fans it's a sign that a new change is coming. Point to any team over the past 2 decades (ok maybe don't count the Bengals or the pre-Denny Green Cardinals) that has had troublesome years and a change is almost inevitable. Lion's fans have been waiting 40 plus years. The team has been to the playoffs 9 times and seen some success, but it has been bleak. Nothing has worked and the team is a complete failure. That's what makes an 0-16 season even more important. Not only would it be significant for the Lions franchise, but it would be a lesson to all poorly run NFL teams. Poor ownership, laughable decision making, and terrible drafting will ruin your team. Hiring a gm with no NFL front office experience, switching coaches on the fly, bombing draft pick after pick, that is the Lions in a nutshell. Maybe, just maybe if this sad sack of a franchise does go win-less it could finally signal that some long term changes are in need. Bring in football people, draft the right players, have a winning formula. Miami won just one game last year but are now 5-4 and in the playoff hunt. Atlanta is 6-3 and is being lead by a rookie qb and head coach. Those teams hired the right people and things have turned around in a hurry. Those type of results can happen with any team these days, including the Lions. It's just a sad situation where the '76 Bucs have to be talked about for that type of turn around to come.
I feel if this team wins between 1 and 3 games during the final 7 weeks of the season the Lions will continue to be the Lions. Rod Marinelli may be fired and a new gm may take charge (maybe without having any real power at all) but in the end it won't matter. Fans should either fill the stadiums rooting for the away team or not even show at all. Can you really be a fan and want your team to lose? Absolutely. This team's fans have become so used to ineptitude I'm surprised they didn't start rooting for other NFC North teams long ago. From this point on the Lion's season has turned into 0-16 or bust.
