After a 7-9 season and missing the playoffs for the 2nd year in a row, the Detroit Lions have decided to fire head coach Jim Schwartz, who took over the team prior to the 2009 NFL season after the Lions had gone winless the season before. Schwartz was a big part of turning the franchise around, leading them to the playoffs in the 2010-2011 season for the first time since 1999. They will be an interesting franchise to look at the betting odds on in the future.
Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew and the rest of the Lions
front office believe they had a good enough roster to at least make the
playoffs this season, so when they fell short they had to place the
blame somewhere, and they wasted no time placing it on Schwartz as they
fired him less than 24 hours after their season finale loss to the
Minnesota Vikings.
Executives and players in Detroit want to win now. They've clearly
regressed since they made the playoffs in 2011, but they certainly have
the talent and building blocks to be one of the best teams in the NFC.
They have the best receiver in football in Calvin Johnson, a good young
quarterback in Matthew Stafford, an offensive line with tons of
potential, and one of the best defensive lines in football with
NdamukongSuh and Nick Fairley leading the way.
The Detroit front
office believes that their vacant coaching position is the most
attractive coaching position in the entire league. Other league coaching
vacancies include the Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
Minnesota Vikings, and Cleveland Browns.
There's been a lot of talk about former Super Bowl winning coach and current ESPN analyst Jon Gruden returning to coaching, but Gruden claims he has no interest. Gruden last coached in 2008, and has been with ESPN since 2009. While he claims he has no interest in coaching, if the Lions can convince him to make a return to the sidelines, that could be the missing piece to the Detroit Lions' puzzle.
Other than Gruden, I'm not sure if there are any significant upgrades at the head coaching position, and I thought they should have given Jim Schwartz one more year considering the fact that he took them to the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. But, like I said, they had to place the blame somewhere, and unfortunately it fell on Schwartz.
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