Detroit's Lions

Well, the Lions have hired a new head coach. Jim Schwartz is his name. Ever heard of him? I sure haven't, and I am one of those fans, ya know, the ones who follow every little aspect of the game. Well, Schwartz was hired on Jan. 16. He served as Tennessee Titan's defensive coordinatior from 2001-2008, and last year he had the best defence in the NFL.

All these are great accomplishments for him, however, did William Clay Ford and the 0-16 Lions make the right call? The answer is no.

Yes, Schwartz will probably make a great head coach for the Lions, however, there was a pool of much better bait out there for hire. Mike Shanahan, for example, was recently fired by the Denver Broncos. He would have been the best choice. He lead the Broncos to back to back Superbowl wins with a quarterback by the name of John Elway. Remember him? He was good wasn't he. If the Lions had hired Shanahan he could have turned Drew Stanton or who ever the Lions draft into a all pro quarterback. Also Bill Cower, who three years ago, led the Steelers to a Superbowl victory wants to come back and coach.

The Lions continue to surprise me. They make mistake after mistake. They drafted a quarterback and three wide receivers in the past 8 years, and not a single one of them is still on the team. They didn't fire Matt Millen until three years after he should have been.

Although the Lions suck and probably will forever, it is appalling that Shannon Sharpe would, on air, not just insult the Lions, but also the city of Detroit by wearing a paper bag over his head and saying that the Thanksgiving tradition should be taken away from us.

The city of Detroit is in shambles right now, but it will come back. Columnist Mitch Albom recently wrote in Sports Illustrated that its not a question of will Detroit comeback, but when.
I took what he said and applied it to the Lions. You see. in a lot of ways, Detroit and the Lions are the same. They each have or had a leader who, is terrible at what they do, Kwame Kilpatrick and William Clay Ford. They both are in shambles and need major reconstruction, Detroit, with the streets and buildings, and the Lions with coaches and players. And they also both are in danger of collapse. The Lions were blacked out over 12 times this season, and Detroit's economy and unemployment rate are a result of the collapsing of the auto industry.

So, the Lions did actually take a step in the right direction. They hired a coach who has done some good, and while there were better options out their, Schwartz will make a good head coach. Detroit, well, with the upcoming mayoral election, hopefullly the people of Detroit can learn something from the Lions, and take a step in the right direction themselves.