Other than Isaiah Thomas and Charley Casserly, I can't think of any executive in the history of professional sports that deserved to be fired as much as Matt Millen. I'm not a huge fan of the Lions by any stretch of the imaginition. However, I've been fascinated with them over the past decade watching this moron destroy this franchise only to see him back every season. I think his arrogance about his job performance was the only thing more amazing than the fact that he actually got to keep his job this long.
"Fired as much"? You mean as in "many times" or "wanted fired"?? Thanks for this report, though. I know I smelled something fishy (it's not you this time, xcharged) when the reporters asked the owner's son "Does this mean you will fire Millen?" To which he answered: "I already answered publicly what I wanted to say, nothing more."
I guess when Bill Ford Jr. said that he no longer cared about the pictures Millen had of him with that sheep. It gave daddy the impetus to act. (Seriously can you think of another reason)
Took the words right out of my mouth. How that booger-eating moron kept that job as long as he did will remain a mystery
SI.com had a funny blog about 10 reasons why this didn't happen earlier. One of them was, "The Lions tried to box his stuff up before but Tatum Bell swiped it"
At least Peterson has had some measure of success. It's just that his time has come and gone. Millen has been a complete idiot from the very beginning.
meh. he hasn't had much success if you ask me. a handful of playoff wins in 20 years, no SB appearances. if he's president/gm or either next year or if Herman Edwards is the coach, I'm seriously picking a new team.
Weisbrod On the other hand, if not for him, we never get TMac, so I guess he can have a pass from us at least
Wikipedia is my friend (don't think these stats include last year though): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Millen Fan reaction was mixed?!?!? As in, fans of the lions were cheering, while others were crying for joy?
To be fair, he was put in an impossible position. They guy knew nothing but hockey...minor league hockey, IIRC. He had almost no chance to succeed. Don't get me wrong. Weisbrod is an idiot and deserves to be on the list as worst ever.
The Lions are 31-84 under Millen That's impressive. Not many get to pad their stats up that low. I don't even remember them winning a playoff game.
I remember the Lions beating the Cowboys in Detroit in the playoffs when Barry Sanders was still playing. I also remember Millen's final radio broadcast where the other announcers were congratulating and patting him on the back and wishing him the best.
No, he meant what he said. You couldn't comprehend it. "as much" applied to "deserved" not "fired." Either way, stop picking on words.
Millen was a pretty good broadcaster if I recall correctly. Unbelievable that he kept his job as long as he did. How could the Lions fire a guy that chose such first round gems such as Mike Williams, Joey Harrington, Charles Rogers and Kevin Jones?
I decided to look it up just to. That Dallas game WAS the last time they won a playoff game ... in 91. The one before that was in 57. The last time they made it to the playoffs was in 99 with an 8-8 record. With Gregory LaMonte Hill at rb(who?), Batch at qb, and Crowell at wr. Kinda makes me sympathize for Lion fans.
The Lions just need decent GM and all of their problems will be fixed within 2 years. Hire someone who has experience and get this...............was actually successful at it. Look at the St.Louis Rams (pre 99) and Tampa Bay (pre 1996), those organization looked like JV teams...but once the right GMs were in place with decent head coaches, those teams became powerhouses. It doesn't take that much to build a good competitive 8+ win team.
