The minute you thought that the Detroit Lions have lost in just about every imaginable way possible, you get slapped in the face with last night’s finish during the Monday Night Game from Ford Field.
With just over a half minute remaining in the fourth quarter, Ravens place kicker Justin Tucker nailed a 61 (yes 61!) yard field goal to give Baltimore a 18-16 win, elevating their playoff hopes and perhaps sinking any hope Detroit had at the post season.
But aside from another heartbreaking loss that was without a doubt the biggest game played at Ford Field to date, Lions head coach Jim Schwartz had his pants ignited from an ever growing hot seat underneath him. And unfortunately for his sake, it looks like Monday night’s loss is just another nail in the coffin for the Schwartz regime in the Motor City.
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network (via Dan Hanzus of NFL.com) Schwartz is unlikely to keep his job as Lions head coach if his team fails to make the playoffs for a second straight season and the fourth time during his tenure.
https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/412822466755436544′
And in light of the talent at the disposal of the organization, the apparent collapse of the team in the late stages of this season the changes may also extend up to the front office with GM Martin Mayhew.
Schwartz though commented on his now suspect future with the team:
“There are negative voices all over this business,” Schwartz told NFL Media columnist Michael Silver. “Those same voices told me I was committing career suicide when I took the Lions job, that it was unfixable and the worst in the NFL.
“There’s too much for me to be positive about to buy into the negativity,” he added. “I have three games for an NFC North title. I’m going to try to win them.”
But at this point is a simple back door entry to the playoffs good enough for this team? A team that started 6-3 while playing in a division that saw Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler both go down? And a team that without a doubt should have locked up this division weeks ago making last night’s Monday night game pretty much meaningless?
Despite the resurgences of certain teams like the Steelers and Eagles the Lions had arguably the easiest second half schedule in the NFL. But instead of fully taking advantage of that weak schedule and division the Lions took a figurative dump as they failed to finish against the Steelers and Eagles, looked lethargic against the Buccaneers and disinterested last night against the Ravens.
Where does the blame lie for not having a team motivated or prepared?
It’s simple, barring a playoff berth and impressive run Jim Schwartz and his entire staff simply need to be shown the door at Allen Park. Sure you can blame Matthew Stafford with the turnovers or Calvin Johnson and the dropped passes last night but with this team at this point you have to look big picture at the pieces you can take out and insert back in. So the fans going after the low hanging fruit constantly calling for the Ford’s to sell the team or asking for Matthew Stafford to be cut or traded please save it. The Ford’s aren’t going to sell the team nor are they going to get rid of Matthew Stafford who signed a big contract in the offseason. The only piece that can feasibly be interchanged right now is that of the coaching staff.
Jim Schwartz and his staff did a nice job bringing this team out of the dumps of an 0-16 season but they’re clearly not the group that’s going to take the Lions to the next level. They’ve shown that they’re not the group that’s going to correct mistakes since we see those same mistakes (turnovers, penalties, etc) still happen consistently on a week-to-week basis and it’s not a group that’s going to make the good players better.
Schwartz has become nothing more than a gimmick and totally predictable.