For the Detroit Lions, Some Things Never Change

0-16 is happening, folks. There's no way around it. I can say with 100 percent certainty, with no doubt remaining, that the Lions will turn in the NFL's first-ever 0-16 season.

How do I know? Because there's no fight in Rod Marinelli. I hear the players say they would give up their paycheck for a win, while Marinelli keeps punting on 4th-and-short. It's maddening, and it sure isn't going to change against Green Bay. In the Lions' last home game, they were completely blown out. New Orleans didn't even punt the ball once.

This has been a tumultuous season by any definition. Ironically, 0-16 could have been avoided if there was any sense of continuity in the organization. Ironically, if Millen stayed as GM for the rest of the season, and if Jon Kitna remained the starting quarterback, and if Roy Williams hadn't been traded, these Lions would have at least two wins right now, if not more.

Yet all three of those moves were met with resounding applause.

Lions fans probably cheered more on the day Millen was fired than they did when he was hired. Just as the hiring of Millen was able to turn the Lions from a solidly mediocre franchise into a bad one, firing him turned the Lions from a bad franchise into the worst team of all time.

However, up until yesterday, Lions fans still had hope for the future. After all, a new GM was going to come in, possibly Pioli from New England. The new GM would hire a new coach, and they would have a new quarterback and new players.

Of course, it makes only perfect sense to blow up the front office after the worst season of all time—which is exactly why the Lions won't do it.

William Clay Ford has been the owner of the team for half a century. He is over 100 games below .500 and 1-9 in the playoffs in his long tenure as owner. He has always, foolishly and infuriatingly, kept inept personnel on the team long past their due. Ford has been called arguably the worst owner in professional sports by fans, but his recent statement will indisputably solidify that dubious title.

Ford has kept mum on the state of the team all year long, becoming a recluse, avoiding being seen in public until yesterday. Shortly after Detroit became the first team to go 0-15, Ford thought it would be the best time to make an announcement.

So he prepared a statement in advance that wasn't even delivered by him.

Tom Lewand and Martin Mayhew, the Lions' Chief Operating Officer and General Manager, respectively, will both be returning next year. Oh, and Rod Marinelli just might be returning as head coach as well.

Folks, this is insanity on a level never before seen in professional sports. Hell, this is insanity on a level never before seen in high school sports!

When a team goes 0-16, you shouldn't be bringing back ANYONE. You should be wanting to wash out any remaining stink of that horrible year from existence, but Ford comes out and says the COO and GM, and maybe even the coach, are all coming back?!

Let's look at this in depth. You would think Ford at least cares about making money if nothing else, right? Well, six out of eight home games were blacked out for the Lions this year. That means Ford is losing money. Keeping these guys on board isn't going to convince anyone that the team will be better next year.

They might go 0-16, or close to it, again!

Ford will continue to lose money. This makes me think that Ford has lost his mind...for real this time. In 2003, when he renewed Millen's contract, he came under public and media scrutiny, who all asked, "Why in the heck are you renewing this guy's contract?" Ford replied, "Because I want him. That's the only reason I need."

This is the kind of logic Lions fans have had to endure from the worst owner in professional sports for half a century, and nothing is going to change now.

I am 25 years old and have been a Lions fan all my life, but this is the last straw for me. I've taken the years of embarrassment. I've endured Barry Sanders walking away from the game too early. I've sat through Wayne Fontes, Bobby Ross, Marty Mornhinweg, Steve Mariucci, and Rod Marinelli, and I'll now endure an 0-16 season.

You know what? That's all all right. I'll take all that and be bitter and hardened, but I'll deal with it under one condition—just blow up the front office and make some changes when they're obviously needed.

Now that it's not happening, though, I am prepared to walk away from this team for good, and I think others would be wise to join me.

Nothing will ever change with this team. They are doomed as long as someone with the last name Ford owns this team. I heard Ford's statement, but I'm still prepared to wait and see it through.

If it's true, though—if Mayhew and Lewand reprise their current roles with this team next year, and if Rod Marinelli is still the coach of the team next year—I will turn my back on this franchise and never come back.

0-16? That's a dubious mark in the record books that people will talk about years later—but for a Lions fan, it's just another day in the life.