I don't know if you recently heard, but the Detroit Lions had a miserable season, 0-16 in fact. The amazing feat didn't really bring upon the media hoopla that I had anticipated for such an event. Nonetheless, head coach Rod Marinelli was canned, and life goes on. I don't know if he really deserved it considering he wasn't the one blowing 8 or so leads throughout the season. Imagine if real business worked this easily. Would we be in a recession?
I guess he is fortunate enough to have made it to 0-16. It is like keeping a starting pitcher and allowing him to lose 20 games. Or Vic Willis, and the season he had back in 1905 for the Boston Beaneaters (later became the Atlanta Braves). That season Willis had an astounding 12-29 record, most loses by a pitcher in any season in baseball. 1905 was also right in the middle of the dead ball era in baseball. That year the Beaneaters only won 51 games and Willis was one of four pitchers on that staff that had 20 or more loses.Vic Willis may have lost 29 games that year but had an ERA of 3.21 in comparison to the league's average ERA that year of 3.08. Willis went on and got traded out of Boston to Pittsburgh and went 23-13 the following year with a 1.71 ERA. On top of that he had 89 wins in his next 4 years with just 46 loses!
So bringing us back to the Detroit Lions, where do they go from here? Vic Willis was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1995, but I'll bet the house that no current Detroit Lion will make the Hall. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers who started out their franchise with an 0-14 season, lost the first 12 games of the following season, but two years later lost in the Conference Championship game after going 10-6. It took the Bucs nearly 20 years to win 10 games again in a single season, but it helped those forget about the 0-14 year.
The Lions are taking steps in the right direction. They fired Matt Millen a long time ago, although NBC picked him up for playoff coverage? Aforementioned, they got rid of Rod Marinelli. They have the first pick in the draft next year, and you can bet your neighbor's house that they won't draft a WR. They will pick up Sam Bradford or Matt Stafford and expect similar results that Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco produced this year. And why shouldn't they? They'll have a new coach, and no veteran coach will take that spot, thus we've seen the results:
Rookie QB + First Time Coach = Playoffs.
So, go ahead and count it, bold prediction Number 1 of the year for me. The Lions will make the playoffs next year. Heck, they could win the division. It is a lot easier than the AFC East or AFC North (Miami or Baltimore's Division). Detroit scored more points than five other teams in the league. Their defense can only get better after allowing over 32 ppg. And lastly, their schedule is favorable as they have their own division plus the Redskins, Rams, Cardinals, and Browns at home and teams such as the Bengals, Seahawks, and 49ers on the road.
If Victor Gazaway Willis ever taught me anything, it was that the sun will come out tomorrow.
And if you are interested in helping my dreams become a reality, you can apply here- http://footballjobs.teamworkonline.com/teamwork/r.cfm?i=22520 (same thing right?)
And Now You Know!
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1 comments:
Just think, if Vic Willis had been anti-cigarettes, that baseball card would be worth tons.
Bold prediction, but that's what I expect from you. Will they bring back Herman Moore?
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