The Detroit Lions: FINALLY, a Plan in Place

It’s deliciously ironic that the last time the Lions had a semblance of a plan, it was designed by a moon-faced, cigar-smoking oaf of a coach. One fall Sunday, back in 1988, owner Bill Ford levied one of the worst indictments any owner could on his football coach. He had just seen his team get creamed once again, another mercy killing in a season careening out of control. And he gave the reporters a rare postgame analysis. “We’re losing,” Ford said, “and we’re boring.” It wasn’t long before the coach, Darryl Rogers, was shoved out the door. The Lions of 1988 showed up at every Sunday gunfight with a penknife. The offense was slow, plodding. The aerial attack was virtually non-existent, matched only by the nearly invisible running game. It reminds me of a classic line by that crack-up/coach John McKay. “We didn’t block,” he said about his Tampa Bay Bucs after another beat-down, “but we made up for it by not ... (link)