Mooch, We Hardly Knew Ye

It's certainly not all his fault. But I'm ecstatic that Mooch is gone.

I don't think I could take another week of his "5 yard pass on third-and-eight" offense.

It wasn't working. This press conference was destined to happen from the get-go. Mooch was never going to lead us to a Super Bowl. His flaws were evident in San Francisco.

That being said, I was mildly happy when we hired him. I thought he would at least lead us to respectability and then be canned when he failed to take us to the next level.

I thought the Jeff Garcia comments were VERY telling on Mooch. He said he liked Mooch as a coach and that he thought he could get the job done here...but at the same time acknowledged he ran a soft camp and that such a camp was a bad thing for rookies (not to mention young players) and may have led to their undisciplined, lazy attitudes.

That's why I think it was a good idea to can Mooch now. We need to crack the whip on these young guys, especially the receivers, and get them to understand what being an NFL player is all about again. No more "freshening up," no more toking up, JUST SUCK IT UP, shut the hell up, stop dancing when you're down double digits, and earn your paycheck for a damn change.

Jauron isn't a disciplinarian exactly but he is a well-respected coach who will command the players' attention and not settle for insubordination.

Matt Millen is still a joke, obviously. He tried to dance around and crack jokes when asked to evaluate his own performance as GM, but the media obviously wasn't buying it.

I also find it funny that Millen has completely contradicted himself and his philosophy these past few years. He's a tough guy linebacker who talked about needing to bring in more "rats," i.e. tough guy, lunchbucket-style players in his mold. And what did he do? He drafted a bunch of fast linebackers that can't tackle or take on blocks reliably like Teddy Lehman, Boss Bailey, and James "Dirty from getting knocked on his ass all game" Davis.

He built around finesse players with a pourous offensive line. And he hired Jauron to coordinate the defense, one of the least aggressive guys around.

Look at the Bears: They might not have as much overall speed and talent as the Lions but they're built the RIGHT WAY, around the running game and in the trenches. And they have a coach who's aggressive on defense and doesn't mess around with the dink-and-dunk crap on offense. He runs the ball and goes for the occasional big play.

Millen said he thought the Lions had the talent to get the job done. We'll see...I still don't think they're a 4-7-caliber team, especially in this division. I think the switches, especially Greg Olsen to Offensive Coordinator, will benefit them in the short term.

But they still have to play Pittsburgh and the Bengals, so don't worry about our draft position slipping too much.

Fight on, blind Lions. You'll find that zebra carcass someday...