The Detroit Hostage Crisis Is Over ... Matt Millen is Finally Fired

After years of being held in a prison of football futility, fans of the Detroit Lions finally received a glimmer of hope as one of our captors, Matt Millen, has been fired or, as the Detroit News quoted, he was "relieved of his duties." Millen is no longer team president of the Detroit Lions ... ending a horrifying run as the team president and general manager with a pitiful eight-year record of 31-84 overall (unlike Playstation 2, you just can't hit the reset button when things are going as bad as this). It ends one of the most pathetic eras of running a sports organization in the history of professional athletics. William Clay Ford Sr., owner of the Detroit Lions, issued a statement through the team's media relations department that read, "I believe that this decision is in the best interest of this organization," Ford Sr. said. "I appreciate Matt's efforts. Matt worked tirelessly during his tenure to win, and he would be the first one to tell you that you have to win in this league. It just didn't work out." Mr. Ford believes this decision is in the best interest of the franchise. Well, no kidding. It is a necessary move ... albeit several years too late to likely prevent the Lions from continuing to bottom out before we see any signs of realistic improvement with the woeful product on the field every Sunday. If this was a car Mr. Ford was putting on the road it would have been recalled. Lets face it, the Lions have probably three players that are good enough to maybe draw significant interest from other teams (receivers Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams and linebacker Ernie Sims). That's it. There might be a guy or two who could come in and fill a role for another team, but those aforementioned three are about the only personnel the Lions have who have any kind of legitimate value. Millen simply did not get it done and he had to go. Next, someone should be gathering some boxes together to get ready to give head coach Rod Marinelli and his staff the boot. Marinelli has failed, he seems to have no answers and the only passion he really seems to show is when he is in press conferences arguing with reporters. Matt Millen, take it easy brother. You tried and failed, and you should have pulled the parachute and bailed out sooner. Rod Marinelli, save yourself, take the other parachute and give someone else a chance who may actually have a little more of a clue what to do to turn this thing around. Marinelli and Millen have failed us. Half of that combination is gone and now we need to allow Marinelli to deplane.