New coach plus a new general manager still equals the same Detroit Lions

If you were not a fan of the Detroit Lions or the Cleveland Browns, I know you would not have seen this game. Or if you did turn it on, you were channel surfing by the middle of the first quarter.

The quality of play, especially by the Lions, was horrendous. Even I changed the channel to watch a terrible Detroit Tiger team play baseball. Unfortunately, I did turn the Lions' game back on to punish myself for being a Lions' fan in the first place.

Marty Mornhinweg was supposed to bring a new and exciting West Coast offense to Detroit. He even picked up a guy he thought could run it, Ty Detmer, and gave Detmer the starting job in the second game of the season replacing a below average Charlie Batch.

Lions' fans were told that he knows the offense and would be able to run it.

Well, seven interceptions in a game shows me something about Detmer. Not pulling a struggling Detmer shows me something about Mornhinweg.

When a pitcher has lost his control, the manager pulls him. This was the exact situation Detmer was in. Right from the start, the Lions seemed to have no game plan. The play calling was not real innovative or hard to scheme against. The defense also seemed unprepared for Cleveland, whose offense is nothing to write home about. Finally, he was outcoached by Butch Davis who made Marty and the Lions look pretty bad.

Matt Millen is a no-nonsense guy who wants to win and brings a new attitude to the Lions. Well, at least he was supposed to bring a new attitude to the team.

This team is very undisciplined. They were well into the double digits in number of penalties and had triple digits in yards penalized.

This is a Matt Millen team? All I read and heard about was how tough he was going to be and what a difference he was going to make. However, after two games the Lions are not any different than they were under Bobby Ross. The players have no emotion and don't dig in at crunch time to do what it takes to win. They take stupid penalties at bad times, have no good cornerbacks, have slow offensive lineman, and still have guys on the defensive line jumping offsides several times a game. I'm not sure what Millen is doing or going to do about this team, but he is not lighting any fires under their butts as of yet.

The M & M boys must have totally overestimated the talent and character that they have on this team. More changes in personnel should have been made before the season started. Players with no heart or character have to be released. The Lions need new, fresh attitudes.

If Mornhinweg and Millen were to be graded right now, they would be failing terribly. But, since there are fourteen more games left, they still have a chance to pass with a solid mid-term and final exam.

Lion fans can only hope for a major turnaround, which can still be led by the new coach and general manager.