Bumped from the FanPosts section...

I've read all of the recent fanposts posted after the Green Bay debacle and I sympathize with all of you.  I too, am a lifelong Lions fan and have endured the painful existence as a frustrated, yet hopeful dreamer with an incurable disease.  The disease?  I do not know how NOT to be a Lions fan.  I can say I'll never watch another game, but something happens between Monday and the next Sunday and there I am... again, rooting for my team.  Hoping for the best and wincing at the worst and inevitable.  I can't control it.  So until we field a winner, I will continue to wallow in this misery.

I do believe, though, that the frustration with this inept organization is going to come to a cataclysmic head this season - for better or worse.  Either they fire everyone or they fire no one.  Fire everyone and we are in rebuild mode - yet again.  Fire no one and we let this thing continue to spiral past ridiculous and it will begin to hit the Ford's pocketbook with merchandising and blackouts - which will bring a decent amount of embarassment as well.  Either way, the next few seasons are going to be more of the same, so prepare yourselves now.

The true reality...

Hopefully, most of you understand that the overall talent on this team is well below average.  If we do start over with a new GM & Head Coach, it will take several years to put enough talent together to legitimately compete for a championship - which should be the goal.  Not just playoffs, but an actual Super Bowl win.  Think about the players that are truly good enough to make a Super Bowl contending roster... there are not many.  All of the mediocrity needs to be replaced, not surrounded.  Players who we need to show the door to:  Backus, Raiola, Kitna, Mulitalo, Devries, Redding, Lenon, Kelly, D.Smith, Darby - and those are just the starters.  We've tried to surround these mediocre players with talent for years.  These players are not good enough to win!  Period.  A wholesale rebuild is the only way to turn this around.  A new GM is needed to make this happen.

The hope...

There are a few young players that I like on this team that we can build around.  Most of these players are sitting the bench because Marinelli wants to win now - which I understand.  But reality dictates the veterans are not good enough to win, so we must usher in the young talent to see what they've got.  Better to do this now, than to not know what we've got for next year.  The following players, I think, are the future and all need to be starting or playing heavily by week 6 to see what we have with them:  Stanton, Cherilus, K.Smith, Felton, Sims, Dizon, Cohen, Fluellen, Bullocks, Ramirez, C.Johnson, Middleton, Robinson and Bodden.  I'm not saying that these guys are the answer, (in fact since MIllen drafted them, they are probably not), but we need to know now what we have for next year to begin the rebuilding process.

Change...

I like Rod Marinelli.  I honestly do.  With the right talent, I think he might have done pretty well.  But he is the right coach at the wrong time.  The fact that he is spewing all of the same old cliche "pound the rock", "get back to fundamentals", "need to look at the film" messages, just reiterates that he know his team is not talented enough to win.  Yet, he has enough integrity and smarts to know that he can't throw his players under the bus and can't quit on them during the season.  However, he is not a good enough coach to completely and thoroughly start this thing from scratch.  We need an experienced coach with Marinelli's toughness and heart, but with a solid offensive and defensive scheme that is not outdated and has a mind for what he wants for personnel and players from day one.  You probably know who I'm thinking of...  Yep, Bill Cowher.  The Fords need to pay this guy $10MM a year if needed and sign him to no less than a five year contract.  This move would show fans that the Fords are truly committed to winning and the fans would embrace the move whole-heartedly.  But that's not all.  They need to team Cowher with the best GM that they can buy.  I would say either Pioli, Casserly or Accorsi would be great choices.  Give them whatever they want monetarily, because it would pay huge dividends in 3 to 5 years.

In conclusion...

I know that this is long-winded, but I have a lot to get off my chest.  Venting is the drug for our condition.  I know it doesn't seem like it, but the Fords do care about this team.  Problem is, WCF is too loyal to these inept GMs that he hires and can't pull the plug soon enough.  Bill Jr. will be a bit more cunning and dare I say ruthless when he takes over.  He no doubt would have fired Millen by now.  There's even talk of a rift between Sr. & Jr. over this right now.  Let's hope Jr. wins this one.  If I made one point at all in this rant, it's that there is no magic cure for right now.  There is no "worst to first" in the cards for these Lions.  The current team we field has been built on eight years of horrible decisions and we just have to grin and bear it.  There is nothing we can do but hope that change is imminent and in 5 years or so, our new GM and new coaches have made good enough decisions to let all of us finally get a good night sleep between Aug - Jan.

Please God, bless the incurably diseased Lion fans with a championship in 2012!