From the title of this maiden article you can see that it comes from the classic play Death of A Salesman. I am not here to excuse the poor performance of the Detroit Lions under coach Jim Schwartz and to do that would show woeful judgment. The guy has drastically under performed in his capacity as head coach, his play calling is suspect, he seems to have a poor grip on league rules and his skin, as seen in the Giant game, is a tad thin. That being said as Linda Loman said to her two kids Biff and Happy, “…attention must be paid.”
When Coach Schwartz came to town, he was expected to change a culture of losing. For a team that went 0-16 the previous year that was a tall order. It was clear that Rod Marinelli was not ever the answer to this team and if Matt Millen thought it was his job to decimate a professional football team, well mission accomplished. There was not much talent on this team save the youngster Calvin Johnson and the draft picks at best were dicey and ill thought out.
Lead by rookie Matthew Stafford, The Lions won 2 games, an improvement of two games and when it was looking like Schwartz was in over his head the next year, even with the addition of monster defensive tackle Ndamakong Suh, the Lions went from 2-10 and reeled off four wins to set us up for the next season. Then the Lions did something that has been missing in this town since the days of Wayne Fontes, they won double digit games. They went 10-6. Stafford now a veteran passed for 5000 yards, Johnson, now known around the NFL as “Megatron” is a beast receiving for over 1600 yards and Suh is living up to hype as a beast and making other defensive Lions all the better (think Cliff Avril misses him just a little?)
Something went wrong though after the Saints defeated the Lions in the wild card weekend. Instead of setting up head to head showdowns with Rodgers and the Pack and Cutler and the Bears, the Lions went 4-12 losing their last eight games. This was the expectation that Schwartz helped set up for the Lions. Instead of us fans expecting the team to finish 2-14 every year we expected at the minimum 10-6. This year has been the one that hurt most of all though I believe. When Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler miss significant portions of the year, when Adrian Peterson isn’t rushing for 2000 yards, when Leslie Frazier is showing he may be the worst coach in the NFC North, then Schwartz plays down to that level. The Lions in week 11 were 6-3 and in control of their destiny. They didn’t have to win out but it was within reach. Since then they have gone 1-5 and have to beat a slightly resurgent Minnesota team to hope to hit .500.
It is a testament to the job that Schwartz did do his first two and a half years that we ask for his job now. It’s not a popular opinion and I can’t believe I am writing it but as we drum him out of town, attention must be paid. Jim Schwartz was not the best coach the Lions ever had, but he is/was far from the worst.