Let’s get this out of the way: The Detroit Lions have one playoff win since 1957. They are a bad organization. They don’t win football games. They don’t make fans very happy. None of what I just said is surprising or shocking.
On Thursday, “new” owner Martha Ford gave the organization an enema, ridding the franchise of GM Martin Mayhew and President Tom Lewand, both of whom had been with the Lions for quite some time, and both of whom had been below average in their respective positions. For the time being, head coach Jim Caldwell has a job, though, that’s more out of necessity because the team simply doesn’t have a coach on staff who can take over the reins. I’m sure Jim Bob Cooter is a nice guy, but he’s never run a professional football team before.
Moving on, because this is where things get really spicy: Most of the Lions (and several members of the local media) are out of town right now because the team is on a bye week. That’s why Adam Schefter was the first to break the story, and why there weren’t juicy details of what went down. According to Ian Rapoport, it was a free-for-all at Lions HQ, and several people were given walking papers.
#Lions source on the firings today: “Total wipeout.” Apparently, bosses are going through the building deciding who stays and goes.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 5, 2015
Speaking of Ian Rapoport, he caused a bit of a ruckus with this report about Matthew Stafford.
The future beyond 2015 for #Lions QB Matthew Stafford is very much in doubt, as I understand it.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 5, 2015
And that opened up the floodgates. Backup QB Dan Orlovsky rushed to Stafford’s defense, ridiculing most of the criticism.
@RapSheet not going to sit back and let what's being said be said. Staff is highly highly intelligent, and has an even better football mind.
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) November 5, 2015
@RapSheet just because an offense is tweaked or altered doesn't mean it's "dumbed-down". Great coaches adapt what they do to who they have
— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) November 5, 2015
And then on cue, Matthew Stafford’s wife Kelly weighed-in on Instagram. This, of course, isn’t the first (or 50th time) she’s gone to bat for her husband. If you recall, she laid into refs earlier this season after “cleat-gate.”
“So, I guess I’m a little behind the time since I have been enjoying myself on the beach… Heard that one of the coaches, who got fired, came after Matthew’s intelligence. That is seriously comical. Come after the way he plays all you want, but the second you come after his intelligence is when you look far too desperate. #wonderlic38”
https://instagram.com/p/9vnkksKd0o/?taken-by=kbstafford89
But perhaps the most bizarre player-fan interaction came from Sam Martin, who, by the way, is the punter on the Detroit Lions. Yes, that’s where we are, folks. The punter went nuclear on fans. This is what happens when you’re 1-7.
(Martin wisely deleted most of the tweets, but this is the Internet and the Internet is forever.)
ONE. PLAYOFF. WIN. SINCE. 1957.
