DETROIT — If there was ever a better example of an instant regime change to a dire franchise it is the Detroit Lions.
A mediocre team through most of their history 1930s-1990s, the Lions' incompetence from 2001-2010 was league-worst save probably for the Browns. Their winless 2008 season was something to behold with Dan Orlovsky running into the endzone. I associated the franchise with alienating Barry Sanders so much he retired early, fans with paper bags on their heads and Matt Millen picking a receiver every year.
The following decade they added arguably the most talented receiver the league's ever seen in Calvin Johnson and a Brett Favre-esque gunslinger in No. 1 overall pick Matthew Stafford, who to my knowledge isn't caught up in a massive fraud investigation.
Stafford was always running for his life, always injured. I felt like they could never sort the defensive unit or offensive line out. When he was traded late in his career, his 2022 Super Bowl victory with the L.A. Rams showed what he could do in a well-run outfit. Johnson, a Hall-of Famer, would retire early also alienated by ownership. More hurt.
They even went to the playoffs a few times, with Wild Card exits in 2012, 2015 and 2017. Coaches Jim Schwartz and Jim Caldwell could make it work but couldn't consistently make it work. Caldwell was canned coming off a 9-7 season (expectations were high!) and his replacement Matt Patricia (from the cursed Bill Belichick coaching tree) was a disaster.
Then Dan Campbell showed up, with his happy warrior persona. After a rough first year, they went 9-8 in 2022 and 12-5 last year, including a NFC Championship appearance. They are now among the league's elite. Jared Goff and the offense under Ben Johnson play like Mozart and defense holds its own.
You may have seen the Jaguars lose 12-7 to the Minnesota Vikings last week. Sixteen individual teams bettered the cumulative score of the game in week 10. A 12-7 score isn't even a Scorigami; it's happened 24 times. The Jags beat the Raven 12-7 in 2011!
The general theme of the past few weeks has been "Yes, Doug Pederson is probably going to get fired, but the team is only losing by one or two scores per game, the offense is poorly coached despite Trevor Lawrence playing well and the right fit at head coach can sort it all out." It's not a slump, it's a cascade.
Technically they can still reach Doug's glorious 9-8, but it all likelihood they're going to get rolled, rinsed and shot to space today. What happened to Stipe Miocic last night.
Trevor Lawrence is out. Not much to say about the Jags that hasn't been said. Like Midtown said: It's too sad. You can bray for Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson or Texans OC Bobby Slowik all you want, remember they get the pick of the seven vacancies on average they are up every offseason, not the other way around. They factor the ownership and front office into their decision.
Jaguars can't lose next week. I'll be writing a draft preview.
The following players will be inactive for the Jaguars in today’s game:
4 RB Tank Bigsby
16 QB Trevor Lawrence
24 CB De’Antre Prince
56 LB Yasir Abdullah
62 OL Javon Foster
90 DT Esezi Otomewo
94 DT Maason Smith
Kickoff is at 1 p.m.
