| Randolph Charlotin. 3rd December, 2008 - 12:56 pm
 At least the Detroit Lions didn’t toy with their fans’ emotions on Thursday. Instead of building a first half lead only to collapse by the end, they quickly put themselves in a 14-0 hole to the Tennessee Titans and were blown out.
So far Detroit is 0-12, and the prospects of winning one game look bleak. The total record of their remaining opponents is 26-22. Far from great, but for winless Detroit, even a 5-7 Green Bay team is intimidating.
We used to feel sorry for a team like the Lions. The franchise has been putrid for so long they don’t even have a natural enemy. When talking about the Black and Blue Division, it’s the NFC North minus Detroit.
But there was Jim Rome on t.v., imploring the Lions to “finish the job” and go 0-16 during his opening burn. I hope Rome is the only one enjoying Detroit’s misery.
Honestly, who wants the Lions to lose? They don’t bother anybody. Detroit needs a rival or a reputation to be the object of ill will. There could be an Antelopes' franchise in the league, and even they wouldn’t have a beef with the Lions. Detroit is yet to cross another franchise to create a shoulder chip.
It would be one thing if the Lions were like Oakland. As long as the Raiders are run by owner Al Davis, they will be viewed as villains. But it wouldn’t be as easy as the CEO of Mitsubishi buying a team and exchanging words with Lions' owner William Clay Ford over vehicle reliability.
What would draw venom is breaking the rules like the New England Patriots did as Spygate revealed. But Detroit has been so bad for so long, they could cheat and still not win.
The truth is, while cheating and annoying the rest of the league helps become hated, nothing gets the juices flowing like winning. When a team is successful, others become jealous of their success. Jealously breeds envy. These two emotions are the root of the purest hate.
That’s why it would had been enjoyable if the 2007 Miami Dolphins failed to win a game. People find the surviving members of the 1973 undefeated Dolphins annoying with their annual champagne toast when the last undefeated team loses a game. While the perfect season can’t be taken away from them, it would be funny for one franchise to have the greatest and worst season in league history.
Unfortunately, in their 78 years of existence, Detroit’s longest period of sustained success has been three consecutive winning seasons. The Lions won championships before, but they have just one playoff win since their last championship in 1957.
Recent history has been even worse. They drafted busts like QB's Andre Ware and Joey Harrington and WR Charles Rogers. They failed to surround RB Barry Sanders with the talent needed to win. They hired Matt Millen as GM in 2001 and didn’t fire him until earlier this year. He shouldn't have lasted three years after the team went 10-38. It took a public humiliation by the owner’s son for the ax to finally fall on Millen.
Also sent packing was disgruntled receiver Roy Williams as he was traded to Dallas for a package of draft picks. Detroit later signed retired QB Daunte Culpepper to a two-year contract, in hopes he could be the passer that tormented the Lions biannually when he was a member of the Minnesota Vikings for seven years. So far, Culpepper has been Detroit’s worst quarterback with a 53.6 rating.
It’s not funny watching the Lions stumble or get pummeled week after week. Ask the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the only other NFL team to finish a season winless. Detroit is just two games short of matching those hapless Bucs and are on pace to lower the floor of futility.
But don’t despair, Lions. Since the Bucs went winless, eight teams had one win seasons. Three of those teams won their game after week 10.
No one expects Detroit to win one of their remaining four games, but a win by any of the previous winless teams this deep into the season wasn’t expected either. A win over any of the playoff hopefuls would not only avoid making history, but it would be the start of a reputation that makes people hate the Lions.
For more by Randolph Charlotin, check out his blog at http://www.newenglandpatriotsnews.com/randolphc/weblog/. He can be contacted at lordrc@netzero.net. |
