Harrington saves the year for the Lions and its fans

The year started out the usual way for the Detroit Lions and their fans -- two losses in which the Lions looked terrible in every way.

They got beat on offense, defense, special teams, and of course, were out coached. Finally, after embarrassing every fan of the Lions, head coach Marty Mornhinweg was forced to start the third pick of the draft, Joey Harrington.

Why did Mornhinweg wait even two games to start Harrington is anybody's guess. He put him in here and there during the first two games just to confuse everybody, especially the two quarterbacks, Harrington and Mike McMahon.

So, for the first game at Ford Field and the third of the season, Mornhinweg had no choice but to try and get some excitement for Lion fans by starting Harrington. Sure, the Lions lost that game to the Green Bay Packers, but the sense that Harrington might be something special was evident.

The first people that Harrington saved were Marty Mornhinweg and Matt Millen.

Fans were clamoring for a change at coach after seeing how badly "Smarty" prepared the Lions the first two weeks. There seemed to be no improvement from last year and a change in coaching and management had to help this struggling Lion team.

Then, on came Joey.

One could just tell that he loved playing football. He was a natural leader who brought something to the team that no other quarterback of the Lions in my lifetime ever did. He would throw a touchdown pass and run to the receiver in the end zone like he was getting timed in the 40.

He won against New Orleans in the fourth game and against the Bears in the sixth, and now, Mornhinweg looks like a respectable coach.

In reality, Mornhinweg should give most of his salary this year to Harrington for saving his job.

The best thing Harrington has done was give the long suffering Lions' fans something to look forward to on Sundays. His winning attitude is contagious on the team and its fans.

He reminds me of Bret Favre. After getting hit by the Chicago Bears' Brian Urlacher, Harrington got up and gave him a pat on the back as if to say "Nice hit Brian, but I'm OK." kind of like the battles between Favre and Warren Sapp.

Harrington wants to win and expects to win. He really has no big name wide receivers to throw to, yet still is accurate enough to make these guys look good.

The running game even came around against the Bears, which I attribute to Harrington's quarterbacking and leadership skills.

Harrington jerseys are selling like hotcakes in Michigan, as well they should. Thank goodness Millen was not allowed to pick Quintin Jammer with the third pick like, I believe, he wanted. So, in a weird way, Harrington saved a guy's job who didn't even want him in the first place.

Winning cures all ills. The pressure seems to be off Mornhinweg at the present time. And, even though Millen called out one of the Lion players in the media, like the idiot he is, his job is safe because of a win against the Bears.

Finally, the owners of the Lions, the Ford's, are not looked at as such incompetent managers of a franchise who have never been to a Super Bowl.

Mornhinweg, Millen, the Fords's, and the fans all owe a big "Thank You" to Joey Harrington for this new attitude.

Yeah, I might be a bit premature by naming Harrington as a savior of the franchise. But, I truly have seen something special in this guy.

He was a big game player in college, takes hits like Favre, and is no prima donna.

This is the first time I have ever seen a quarterback in Detroit who has caused this much optimism. Hopefully, he can keep the enthusiasm going.

He's definitely off to a good start. By making Millen and Mornhinweg look good, he already has shown that he can work miracles.