Open Court: Historical ineptitude

Last year, football fans were treated to a never-before-seen display of historic dominance, thanks to the New England Patriots.

Their quest came to an end in dramatic fashion at the Super Bowl, where we saw the first team in NFL history win 18 straight to start a season, only to lose No. 19.

This year, we have a chance to see something equally rare, but infinitely more interesting.

The Detroit Lions are an afternoon away from becoming the first winless NFL team in 32 years. Not since the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers went 0-14 has a team gone an entire season without at least one day when things finally started to click.

Sure, there have been some dreadfully bad 1-15 teams in the past (including the 2007 Dolphins, 1980 “bag-over-the-head” Saints, the 2001 Panthers, the 1991 Colts, the 1990 Patriots, the 2000 Chargers, the 1996 Jets, the 1989 Cowboys, to name a few), but none of them hold a candle to the 2008 Lions.

Detroit has truly caught lightning in a bottle this season, seeming to find new ways to let down their die-hard fans each and every week. Just when Lions’ fans think they’ve hit rock bottom, games like last week’s 42-7 drubbing at the hands of the Saints happen to push the embarrassment to an entirely new, previously unimagined level.

This epic collapse was actually seven years in the making.

For reasons that have yet to be determined, Lions’ owner William Clay Ford Sr. hired former player and TV analyst Matt Millen to take over as general manager in 2001, despite zero experience in an NFL front office.

He subsequently embarked on the most disastrous tenure in the history of NFL executives. Each year, he botched the draft to smithereens. Each year, Ford backed his embattled GM. Each year, he sucked the life out of his fans.

The “Fire Millen” chant at every Lions’ game eventually became a Michigan rallying cry, turning up wherever you saw broken-down Detroit sports fans. Their wish was finally granted on Sept. 24, but it couldn’t stop what Millen had already set in motion.

Things got so bad this season that they called Daunte Culpepper out of retirement to bungle a few games.

Things didn’t fully bottom out until a meddling columnist asked forlorn head coach Rod Marinelli if his daughter wished she would’ve married a better defensive coordinator. Yes, his son-in-law runs the defensive unit that has given up a league-high 486 points this season.

Today, the Lions look to escape the ignominious distinction of becoming the league’s first 0-16 team by traveling to Lambeau Field to take on a Green Bay Packers’ team dealing with its own share of heartache.

After the bitter and public split with team icon Brett Favre, poor Packer fans have had to watch him turn the New York Jets into a playoff contender while seeing their own inept defense squander countless winnable games.

A loss to the Lions on their home field would be the ultimate humiliation for this proud franchise.

Regardless of what happens today, we’ll see an unprecedented level of football-related heartache. Personally, I’d like to see the Lions cap the winless season, because it would be the only fitting footnote to the Millen legacy in Detroit.

nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747