Update:
Caldwell says they will not be making any coaching changes at this time. #Lions
— Tori Petry (@sportstori) October 12, 2015
Original article, Monday morning:
After a while at Ford Field on Sunday, even some of the diehard fans started leaving the stadium long before the embarrassing Lions showing was over.
And then there was the booing. It was one ugly game for the Lions against the Arizona Cardinals. They lost 42-17.
Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News thinks the first thing Lions coach Jim Caldwell needs to do is fire offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi. The offense looked lame, inept, toothless.
Wojo writes:
Even by the Lions’ historically low standards, this was pathetic, a farcical array of miscues and missed directions. Matthew Stafford is broken and apparently can’t be fixed, not by this coaching staff, not in the short term, maybe not ever, and something drastic must be done.
Jim Caldwell’s hold on his team is fraying, and so is Stafford’s hold on his position. But the first person to go should be coordinator Joe Lombardi, with the season collapsing under the weight of an inept offense.
Caldwell should fire (or demote) Lombardi and take over the play-calling himself, and if it doesn’t work, we know the issues go much deeper. After the Lions’ 42-17 debacle against the Cardinals Sunday, Caldwell said he wasn’t planning any staff changes. But he has to consider something, because to do nothing is to give up.
Which means, yes, Caldwell has a lot of explaining to do. There have been some hard-luck moments. But penalties, bad communication, lack of offensive imagination, awful blocking schemes — these are coaching issues. So is attitude. Caldwell said he "will never make excuses," which is good. Because there aren't any. Sure, it's easy to cite the quarterback. Stafford is not throwing wisely. But he's rarely standing still. Flushing him from the pocket is now every opposing team's objective, and they're having an easy time doing it. This offensive line is a mess. Manny Ramirez had several awful whiffs and Laken Tomlinson just mystifies as a No. 1 pick. The Lions don't open holes that could spring a rabbit, let alone a 200-pound running back.
It begins there. It continues with receivers not breaking free and a defense that closes small plays but not big ones. It goes through dumb penalties and dropped balls and it ends here, at the bottom of the league. Detroit is now at least a full game behind EVERYBODY in the NFL.
Empathy to comedy. Comedy to … tragedy? The Lions play the Bears and Vikings here the next two weeks, and they must focus only on winning those two. And don't look back.
Mike O'Hara of Lions.com, a former Detroit News reporter, writes:
To paraphrase a line from former Arizona Cardinals head coach Denny Green, whose postgame rant after a loss to the Chicago Bears nine years ago is still on the audio highlight reel of every sports talk show in America, the Lions aren’t who we thought they are.
Who they were a year ago was a gritty group of players with a stout defense and an offense that was never out of the game. That’s what made them a playoff team with a won-loss record of 11-5.This year’s Lions are not playoff contenders. They’re not close. That’s obvious, and not just because of their 0-5 won-loss record.
One game beyond the first quarter of the season, they don’t pass the eye test of what a winning team looks like. They look hesitant, confused and for the most part lacking in purpose and direction.
