Come to Think of It...Lions' Matt Millen: How Does This Guy Still Have a Job?

Matt Millen is the General Manager of the Detroit Lions. The team has been nothing short of a train wreck since Millen took the job, yet he continues in the role, despite fans, sportswriters, and even the club's Vice Chairman Bill Ford, Jr. calling for his head.

The Lions are 0-3 this season and an NFL-worst 31-84 since hiring Millen.  He was a great football player in his day.  He won Super Bowls as a linebacker and was an acclaimed TV analyst but had no front office experience when he was hired in Detroit.

So why does Millen still have a job? Because Lions owner William Clay Ford makes that decision and so far, he is sticking with his man. Why his father has been so loyal to Millen over seven losing seasons is a mystery.

While fans continue to think of Head Coach Rod Marinelli and Millen as dumb and dumber, there are no signs that changes are forthcoming. Having the owner's son publicly come out bashing Millen is awkward, to say the least.

Maybe it's not all Millen's fault.  Perhaps with this ownership team, even Knute Rockne in his prime couldn't make a winner out of this moribund franchise. But changing the GM at least shows you care about the results. And it would please the fans.

 At www.FireMillen.com they wrote that Matt Millen recently asked fans to be patient and compared him to a roach. They also reported what ESPN's Stephen A. Smith had to say about Millen:

"This team is atrocious and Matt Millen is a walking football atrocity. He is the worst executive, in my opinion, in the history of team sports.

“He is flat out garbage. The fact that he is allowed to have a job, the fact that he is allowed to walk through the streets of Detroit to enter Ford Field is an abomination in and of itself.

"There should be barricades keeping this man out of the city limits. He should not be allowed to be employed by the Detroit Lions. He is a disgrace of the highest order.”

Well, now, that about sums it up nicely, doesn't it? And yet he still has his parking space, his office, and his paycheck. Imagine if you performed like that in your job—how long would you last?

Of the owner, this is what the site has to say: "He is a fan of greed and contempt. But he has little desire or motivation to acquiesce to wants of the fans."

It's unfortunate to talk like this, but perhaps the old man will have to pass on for change to occur. In the meantime, Lions fans scream out in vain: Fire Matt Millen! Fire Matt Millen! Come to think of it, fire William Clay Ford, too.