Matt Millen Is Fired: How Do The Lions Build a Dynasty?

By Derek Lofland, NFL director at Football Maniaxs,

September 24, 2008 will be a day that goes down in Detroit Lions history. To the dismay of many Detroit Lions’ fans, the team decided to cut ties with their beloved President / GM, Matt Millen. 

His Lions have won only 31 games and lost 84 in his tenure. It was one of the most dismal runs in NFL history.

Probably the only eras in recent NFL history that compares to it is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers losing 10 or more games every season from 1983 to 1994. Cincinnati has also had a nice run with only two winning seasons of plus .500 ball since 1989.

What is amazing about this story is not that Matt Millen was fired, but that he wasn't fired three or four years ago.

Let's start with a couple points.

Matt Millen was a fantastic football player.

I think that gets lost with how bad he ran the Detroit front office. He was taken

in the second round (43rd overall pick) of the 1980 Draft by the Oakland Raiders. He came from Penn State, which has a solid reputation of producing smart linebackers; hence Penn State's nickname Linebacker U.

He was a solid NFL middle linebacker for many years. The Raiders would win Super Bowls in 1980 and 1983. He would join the 49ers and win a ring there in 1989. He concluded his career with the 1991 Washington Redskins, although he was not active for the Super Bowl.

Matt Millen was never the center of his team’s defense. He made his only Pro Bowl in the 1988 season. He never was a feared sack artist. He never picked off a lot of footballs.

He wasn't on the NFL's All 80's Decade Team. He is not a Hall of Famer. What he did contribute to the game is that he was a winner. Not many guys play on four Super Bowl teams. The ‘89 49ers and ‘91 Redskins are on many people’s list of top 10 all time NFL teams. He was that smart football player that every championship team needs.

That doesn't excuse the bad job he did as a GM in Detroit. However, again, I think his legacy of losing with the Lions has made us forget the winner that he was as a player.

He was also an enjoyable broadcaster for Fox Sports prior to taking the Lions gig. It is my hope that he can get back into the booth, as he does deserve a second gig there. I think a team would be crazy to give him a second shot as a GM.

The other thing we need to remember is that the Lions have been a laughing stock for years.

That happened long before Millen got there. I think that is also forgotten by many of the younger fans, because of the Barry Sanders era.

The Lions used to be a great football team.

They won the 1935 NFL Championship. Then they had a very successful run in the 1950s. They beat the Cleveland Browns in the 1952, 1953, and 1957 NFL Championship Games and lost to them in the 1954 Championship. Bobby Layne was a very successful Hall of Fame quarterback. He is still the Detroit Lion's all time leading passer with 15,710 career passing yards. That tells you all you need to know about what happened next.

William Clay Ford, Sr. purchased the team in 1964. Since then the Lions have played 10 playoff games, 6 of those in the Barry Sanders era. They have won exactly one playoff game in Ford’s tenure.  That was in 1991 when they lost to the eventual champion Washington Redskins.

Let me be clear about something.

Matt Millen did about as horrible of a job at running this team as a GM could do. However, he was only there for eight seasons. William Clay Ford, Sr. has owned the team since 1964.
To blame Matt Millen for everything that has gone wrong in Detroit is to ignore the previous 36 years of incompetence. History says this team will never become a contender as long as the Ford family has a say in the day-to-day operations of this football team.

So, why did Matt Millen's tenure in Detroit start and end so badly? Here are the main reasons I could come up with.

1) Bad Ownership - I've talked about this already, but let's talk about it more. William Clay Ford, Sr. is one of the worst owners in the NFL. They don't spend a lot of money on players. Come to think of it, they don’t spend a lot of money on anything. They are more committed to the bottom line than putting a good product on the field. That is a tough situation for any GM to succeed under.
Matt Millen would have been a lot better off with a different organization.  In a better environment he may have succeeded.  In a better situation he may not have made all the mistakes he made.  His successor will not have an easy job. Millen has left a bad team behind him and there is no good ownership in place that will make it easy to turn this product around.

2) Barry Sanders' Retirement - It never helps when your 30-year old stud running back retires on the eve of training camp. The Lions actually did make the playoffs without Sanders in 1999, but lost in the wildcard round.  In 2000 they finished 9-7. However, by that time the talent base had fully eroded and the Lions were among the biggest messes in the NFL. That is when Millen was hired.  Had Sanders not retired so suddenly and Detroit had some time to plan their future without him, Millen may have stepped into a much better situation.

3) Bad coaching hires - It's okay to hire a rookie GM. It's okay to hire a rookie coach. To hire both is a recipe for disaster. Matt Millen would have been wise to hire an experienced Head Coach. He desperately needed someone that could have helped him with some of the important player personnel decisions, as he got up to speed with the NFL front offices. Instead, he hired Marty Mornhinweg, who is a fine offensive coordinator, but lacked previous experience as a head coach.

The result was a 5-27 record from 2001 and 2002. The Chiefs hired Dick Vermeil in 2001. Marty Schottenheimer returned to the NFL with the Redskins. Either of those hires would have made more sense that an offensive coordinator taking his first head-coaching job. Either would have been available as the Lions fired Bobby Ross in the middle of the 2000 season.

Steve Mariucci looked to be a good hire, even if the Lions were fined $200,000 by the NFL for not interviewing a minority candidate. The Lions had run a West Coast Offense under Mornhinweg. Mariucci had experience in that system and had coaching experience with San Fran. He was a much better fit. The problem is that they didn't give him Steve Young or an effective Jeff Garcia. Mariucci was a good coach that stepped into the premier organization in football, San Francisco.

In signing with Detroit he signed with the worst.  Without a good front office getting him good players or an accurate QB that could make quick reads Mariucci was never put in a position to succeed. Joey Harrington failed in that system. They tried to bring in Jeff Garcia five years too late and that also failed. Garcia can play with good players, but he can't carry a NFL team. Mariucci was able to get them to 6-10, but was fired in the middle of his third year.

Rod Marinelli has been brought in and he hired Mike Martz to run the offense. That idea was scrapped after a year. They just were never able to get a coach that could last for a couple years and build a consistent system. They never found someone that could put his stamp on the organization. Had Millen hired a good coach from the beginning it still might not have worked out, but the coaches that followed would at least have had a better foundation in place to succeed. By the time Mariucci arrived the broth was so spoiled that no one was going to win with that in a couple years.

4) Bad Drafts - The list of bad picks is a long one. His first pick was Joey Harrington. That would prove to be a big mistake. Joey Harrington just always seemed a step behind the NFL game. He threw 17 touchdowns in 2003 and 19 in 2004, but never could keep his picks down or his completion percentage up.

The worst pick had to be taking Charlie Rodgers instead of Andre Johnson in the 2003 draft. The Lions followed that up with Roy Williams in 2004, Mike Williams in 2005, and Calvin Johnson in 2007. Matt Millen's legacy in Detroit when it comes to the draft will be taking four receivers in the first round in five years. Not only were they in the first round, but they were also top 10 picks.  Rodgers and Johnson were both the second picks in the entire draft.

It seemed like Millen was putting together a fantasy roster rather than a football team. It's fine and good to draft receivers, but you need an offensive line to block for a quarterback that can throw the ball. This is what surprised me about Millen. He was one of those guys that teams needed to win that didn't get the credit. Yet he was never able to identify and add those players to his own roster. The Lions talent always seemed to be better on paper than it did on the field as a unit.

The Lions also have made a habit of finding immature players. A lot of that was because of the lack of paying attention to small details and getting smart veterans on the team that understood what it took to win in the NFL.  A lot of it is because players get frustrated with losing 10 games every year.  Even the most mature veteran would struggle to keep his sanity in Detroit.

5) Bad Luck - Even when he got it right he got it wrong. Many thought the Lions had hit a homerun in the 2004 NFL Draft. They drafted Roy Williams with the seventh pick. They took Kevin Jones with the 30th pick. Then they added Teddy Lehman in the second round. Everyone gave Detroit an A for that draft. They figured the losing would finally turn itself around and this would be the draft that started the success.

Williams was really the only player that worked in that draft. He made the Pro Bowl in 2006. He has started at least 12 games every year. He is still starting for the team. While he is not Randy Moss or TO he is certainly an above average starting wide receiver. Kevin Jones had a great rookie year with 1,133 yards and five touchdowns. He could never stay healthy after that. He's with the Bears. Lehman started 16 games his rookie year and looked to be a promising player. He battled injuries and was released, resigned, and released again.

Every successful team needs some luck. The 49ers got theirs in the third round when they selected Montana. The Packers got that when they traded a first round pick to Atlanta for Favre. The Patriots got that in the sixth round with Brady. The Colts got that by picking Manning instead of Leaf. Those decisions didn't have to work out.

In all of those cases except for Manning the teams really didn’t even now what they had.  Patriot’s owner Robert Kraft was calling Tom Brady, Kyle Brady, during Tom’s rookie year.  Had he known Brady would play in four Super Bowls and win three of them, I’m sure he would have taken the time to learn the guy’s first name.  There is no way those teams could have known their smart decision would pay off the way it did.

Even when the Lions were praised by the football establishment, it ended up being the wrong decision. It got to the point where any decision the Lions made had to be wrong, because Matt Millen was making that decision. A lot of that falls on him, but even the best football minds need something to bounce their way. The Lions never even stumbled into anything good while Millen was there.

There are too many other problems to list. When you post a 31-84 record there is a lot of blame to go around.

If the Lions are going to succeed they need to do three things:

1) Follow the Dolphins example - Hire someone like Bill Parcells to run the front office and start cleaning house. The Fords need

to keep their hands out of the football operations and defer to someone that has experience at being a winner. Marty Schottenheimer. Dick Vermeil or Bill Cowher would all be good choices for that job. Those are guys that have had success coaching in the NFL that would bring a wealth of knowledge to a front office. I’m not suggesting any of those guys would be interested in the job, but that is the type of qualifications I would be looking for.

2) Find a New Head Coach - Rod Marinelli is a good guy and a good football mind. He doesn't strike me as a great Head Coach. He is a lame duck coach at this point as the new GM is going to want to bring in his own guy.  A lot of the good hires in recent years have been coordinators. With an experienced GM running the show the Lions could afford to get a successful coordinator that they can build the team around. They don't need a retread that hasn't done anything in the NFL. Don't hire a Dennis Erickson type. If they wanted to go the experience route someone like Brian Billick might not be a bad choice. He's got a good reputation for motivating players and has a track record of winning games. He also has a Super Bowl ring.

3) Find a quarterback - Bobby Layne is the all time leading passer for this team. He played in the 1950s. He has only 15,000 career passing yards. That is inexcusable in the modern day NFL.  The Lions have had some bad luck selecting quarterbacks. See Harrington and Ware. The Lions need to find someone that has an eye for the quarterback position and draft a top quarterback that they can build their team around. Any quarterback would love to play with the receivers they have.  Jon Kitna is a good QB that can play while they develop a younger guy. However, he is not a long-term answer.

If they can start making some sound football decisions they could get this turned around. In the early 1970s no one thought the Steelers would emerge as a NFL dynasty. In the early 1980s no one saw the Bears, 49ers, Giants, or Redskins emerging as NFL powers. In 1991 no one thought the Packers would ever be respectable again. In the early 1990s no one thought the Tampa Bay Bucs could ever hoist a trophy.  We forget how low those franchises were when things suddenly changed.  It can change with a good hire, a great draft, or a Hall of Fame quarterback.

They key is that the Fords can't be making the important decisions. They need to hire a smart football guy, give him a blank check, and let him do his thing.  The Fords have a 40-year track record of getting it wrong. For the sake of Lions fans its time they get one right.