Originally Posted by
paddlebobb
The NFL is an extremely successful juggernaut in every sense of the imagination. Winners are regaled in fine fashion for both the team and the individual levels. And losers are given the organizational wherewithal to pick up the pieces and formulate a plan for a more successful short term. Strategies employed are the draft, free agency, and favorable scheduling. With all these factors available, teams can succeed, fall back for a few years, then reascend.
In stating the obvious, this has not happened here in the past half century. And it's not the thousands of players who have ventured in and out, nor the hundreds of coaches who have strived for success in the various Lions home venues and stadiums. Blame has to be ascribed in the front office setting where the ongoing decision-making has been taking place. And it's not just Mr. Millen or Messrs. Mayhew and Lewand. It's been the Ford family since they took the reins on that dark day - November 22, 1963.
Mr. Ford was a wonderful individual and is looked on with great honor and dignity, as should be the case. But his front office choices and their tenures were often marked with stubbornness and exaggerated loyalty. In most cases, those entrusted with the keys to the franchise had no real experience and successful track records, and thus no business being in a position that would in turn manifest and maintain such a losing legacy. This being the case, choices for the head coaching positions were often forthcoming in this same vein, and again resulting in yet more and more derailments.
This much is true. In the other sports franchises in town, success has only been enabled when ownership has made the key management/coaching decisions and investments necessary to bring it about. Dombrowski, Devallano/Bowman etc. were properly brought aboard at key junctures by ownership committed to winning, and in the end making management accountable for its actions. The new Gores franchise has taken a major step in this direction by installing a true basketball man with a proven resume to assume the Pistons management/coaching roles. And he will also demand accountability.
So continue to talk about Suh and Stafford, and Caldwell and Calvin. But know this. The Detroit Lions will never become a consistent winner in the National Football League until it develops better selection and execution of its front office and coaching positions. If that ever comes about, success on the field will trickle down and manifest itself to the long-suffering legions of Detroit area football fans.