I Hate To Say I Told You So, But....

Almost everyone saw it coming. A veteran quarterback, whose glory days were far behind him, who hadn't played professional football in a year, and who barely knew anything about the Lions' playbook, crashing and burning.

Almost everyone saw it coming, but not the Lions.

With new starter Dan Orlovksy injured, the Lions had two options at quarterback. One who had been practicing with the team all season or one who had just been signed.

Thank goodness many Lions fans didn't have to witness this. The game was again blacked out in the Detroit area and even in other areas. Culpepper threw an interception on his first drive, showing the NFL that he will fit in perfectly with the Lions.

It didn't get much better from there. Culpepper only attempted 10 passes during the game, completing five of them for 104 yards but leading Detroit nowhere.

Meanwhile, Drew Stanton saw his first game action today, and his very first NFL pass attempt resulted in a touchdown, albeit a one-yard touchdown to John Owens. Stanton finished 6-for-8 with 94 yards and no interceptions.

Hate to say I told you so, Lions. That quarterback that you had no faith in outplayed Culpepper in very limited playing time today.

No one managing this Lions team deserves to have a job, and I mean no one. Out of the dumb Lions decisions I've seen being made over the last half decade, starting Culpepper today ranks among the dumbest.

I'm officially demanding here that Rod Marinelli be fired on Monday, and that Mayhew and Lewand are fired at season's end to make way for a completely new regime. In the meantime, hire whatever yokel you want to replace Marinelli as head coach. Kwame Kilpatrick, Bobby Ross, whatever...

I would wager that if Orlovsky was starting today, the Lions would have had their first win, but that's a moot point. If Stanton had started the game, the Lions would have at least been more competitive offensively.

Culpepper starting the game damages the Lions immeasurably. He did not play well and the Lions were blown out. He barely knew the playbook. This did nothing except set Culpepper back.

A quarterback who hadn't played football in a year had a bad first start; that only hurts his confidence.

The Lions could have started Stanton, still lost, got the young guy some playing time, and kept prepping Culpepper to start next season or late this season. They chose to ignore the rational path and charge deeper into football insanity. I suppose no one should be surprised.

If Mike Vick were released from jail tomorrow, I wouldn't put it past Detroit to sign him and start him immediately. What would be the difference? Vick would essentially be in the same position that Culpepper was in today.

Almost everyone saw this coming today. The Lions were busy parading around in their insane asylum.