Lions Notes: Record-Breaking Mediocrity

by Sean Yuille on Dec 21, 2007 2:32 AM EST in Notes Comment 0 comments

The Lions have a chance to do something no other NFL teams have done before: lose out after starting 6-2. Mike O'Hara brought up the possibility of the Lions finishing the season on an 8-game winning streak, and after doing some asking around, he found out that it would sadly be a record.

Since the NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1978, no team has started 6-2 and lost its last eight games.

The potential for the Lions to set a record was verified Tuesday by Santo Labombarda of the Elias Sports Bureau, which provides statistical information and research for the major sports leagues and media.

If the Lions somehow manage to lose to the Chiefs on Sunday, then the record mentioned above is a near-lock as there's no way the Lions can win on the road against Green Bay. Boy, just when you think mediocrity can't any worse, the Lions find new ways to set records for being bad.
Even though Drew Stanton hasn't been able to practice since the summer due to a season-ending injury, he is gaining quite a bit of experience off the field. Learning the playbook and just getting used to being an NFL player are a couple of the things that Stanton has had the chance to learn. Although he won't return to the practice field anytime soon since he's on the IR, once he gets the chance he should be ready.

I don't mean to hate on Stanton too much, but if we could go back to the draft, there are many players that should have been selected instead of Stanton. Two stick out the most to me: MLB David Harris and QB Trent Edwards. Harris is playing great and had nearly 40 tackles after only his first two starts in the NFL. Having a MLB like that would certainly be nice. And for Trent Edwards, he has played very well as a starter for Buffalo, and he wouldn't have to have been selected until the third round. Usually we have to wait a couple years to talk about hindsight with the draft, but it's not even 2008 and we already can do it. I hate you so much, Matt Millen.
Although there are some questions of whether or not Mike Martz will be back next year, he thinks Jon Kitna should return as the starting QB.

How do you think quarterback Jon Kitna has played this year? Do you think he's earned the No. 1 job going into next season?

"Absolutely. I think Jon's a terrific player. With some of the things he's been saddled with and what he's done and some of the protection issues - he's been beat up a lot - he's made some tremendous throws. I think he's a real good player, we've got to get better around him and we will.''

I don't disagree with the fact that he needs better players around him, because quite frankly any quarterback would have a hard time playing well with that o-line. Regardless of how bad he does play sometimes, who else would be the starter if not Kitna? I don't see J.T. O'Sullivan or Dan Orlovsky or Drew Stanton being capable of handling the starting job, so unless a trade happened, he'll be the starter. The only trade possible would involve Derek Anderson, but Matt Millen isn't smart enough to pull off a deal that would get Anderson in a Lions uniform.
Rod Marinelli's approval rating on ESPN.com has hit a season-low.
Transcript of Roy Williams interview with WDFN.