If you think the Detroit Lions have hit rock bottom, then consider this picking up the pick axe and chipping away at stone.
It seems that things are so bad in Motor City that, for the third consecutive home game, no television viewer within a 75-mile radius of Ford Field was able to catch the game against Tampa Bay on local TV Sunday afternoon. Why? Because the Lions failed to sell out seats to the game before Thursday at 1 p.m., the NFL's blackout deadline.
At that time, there were still 7,000 tickets that had not been sold - a deficit increase of 1,000 tickets from the previous home game - and all indications are that whatever loyal fan base there was in Detroit is dwindling quickly.
To make matters worse for the Lions, it seems that they are literally staring down the possibility of being the first 0-16 team to ever disgrace the league's record books. Up 17-0 after the first quarter of the game against Tampa Bay Sunday, the Lions gave up five touchdowns and could only respond with a single field goal to close out an embarrassing 38-20 loss.
In the remaining five weeks of the season, Detroit has Tennessee, Minnesota, Indianapolis, New Orleans and Green Bay on the schedule. Let's face it - that is a pretty bleak outlook.
Unfortunately for the Lions, this abomination of a season has been a long time coming. Chalk that one up to the witless guidance of former President, CEO and general manager of the Detroit Lions, Matt Millen.
Despite having four Super Bowl rings and considerable experience in the broadcast booth, Millen didn't have a lick of front office expertise when he was hired by owner William Clay Ford in 2001.
Since operating under his ranks, the team has (not surprisingly) amassed a laughable 31-84 record and has not once finished with a winning record. To add, drafting Joey Harrington and four different wide receivers as first round picks in the last seven years has clearly done little to help the team.
Why the team chose to enter an eighth season under his abysmal direction is anyone's guess, but it was a sickening omen of misfortune to the Detroit faithful who have been calling for his can to get kicked to the curb for the last three years.
The organization took a step in the right direction when executive chairman William Clay Ford, Jr. told reporters in September that if it were up to him, he'd fire Millen, to which his father responded two days later with the announcement that Millen was to be relieved of his duties immediately - eight years too late for Lion fans.
The fat was trimmed for the Lions organization, but at that point, there was nothing left on the plate. New general manager Martin Mayhew has done basically nothing to help the cause other than sign wayward and floundering quarterback Daunte Culpepper in hopes that he might help the squad. So much for that idea: Culpepper is 33-of-65 passing in three games with only one touchdown and five interceptions. He got benched Sunday in favor of greenhorn quarterback Drew Stanton.
To be honest, it does not matter who the Lions plunk behind center right now. They have been whipping Cheerios at the intersection of bad and worse since the turn of the century. The Lions have nothing better to look forward to until the organization performs a complete overhaul in the front office and finally assembles a team of players that have as much motivation and pride as they do talent.
But until the end of the season, the rest of the league will smirk on as the Lions march their inevitable way towards infamy as the worst team ever in the history of the NFL.
Fortunately, Detroit won't have to watch.
If you think the Lions will dig their way out of the deep hole they are standing in, e-mail Andy at avansistine@wisc.edu.
