Thursday Notes: Matt Millen Tries to Paint Himself as a Scapegoat in Detroit

by Sean Yuille on Jun 18, 2009 1:51 PM EDT in Notes Comment 22 comments

I'm just as sick of hearing about Matt Millen as all of you, and trust me, I hate writing about him. But I needed to address what he told SI's Don Banks in an article that was published yesterday.

"I don't go backwards,'' Millen said. "I just don't think like that. There's nothing I can do about [Detroit]. All I can do is from here on out. I understand. In Detroit, they need a bad guy. I was a bad guy. I was to blame for the fall of the auto industry and the housing market. Somehow, I had something to do with [Detroit mayor] Kwame Kilpatrick [resigning], although I'm not sure what. But that's what happens when you lose in this game. You give everyone a cheap and easy story to jump on.''
What Millen said above is an insult to anyone with even a little knowledge of the Lions. I know he's trying his best to rebuild his image now that he is again going to be on TV, but come on, does he really want us to believe he was the victim in Detroit? Sure, blame can be passed around to William Clay Ford for hiring him in the first place and not firing him until last year, but Millen is the one that will go down as one of the worst general managers in sports history.

People did not make Millen out to be a bad guy because Detroit needed one. People made him out to be a bad guy because he was awful at his job and deserved to be fired long before he actually was. This has nothing to do with being a bad guy anyways; fans were simply sick of him running their team into the ground and decided to speak up about it to make something happen. This whole "I was a victim and a scapegoat" crap he's trying to pull is maddening and sickening. Scapegoats in the sports world are people that unfairly get singled out for losing a game that was a team wide effort or a bad playoff run where everyone struggled or something like that, not general managers who consistently fail at their job for almost an entire decade.

In the case of Matt Millen, he was anything but a scapegoat, as that implies that he wasn't actually the one responsible for the Lions' woes this decade. Like I said earlier, does William Clay Ford deserve blame in this as well? Sure, as Ford hired Millen and waited much too long to fire him. Even so, that doesn't mean Millen can duck all of his responsibility in the mess that was the Lions during his tenure. To act like the victim is just ridiculous. The victims were the fans who had to deal with Millen's crap for eight years.
Charles Rogers wants to make another comeback attempt, and he apparently enjoys speaking in the third person (see the link for what I'm talking about). I hope he succeeds just so he can pay back the Lions all the money he owes them.
Boss Bailey was released by the Broncos on Wednesday.

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Comments

You should

e-mail your above response to Don Banks, help remember that their are two sides to that story. I read the article and felt the same way.
And as far as I remember, nobody has ever mentioned Kwame and Millen in the same sentence until he did for that piece.

by Lostincali on Jun 18, 2009 2:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Haha I love the comments on that Charles Rogers link.
“is he broke?”
“two months? try two years and then we’ll talk to you.”

and my personal fav, a certian sympathic soul wrote
“Everyone deserts a 2nd or even a 3rd or 4th chance.”
hahah idiot

Maybe, just once, someone will call me "sir" without adding, "you're making a scene.

by HireMattMillen on Jun 18, 2009 2:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

haha

I guess my username is kinda awkward on this post…..

Maybe, just once, someone will call me "sir" without adding, "you're making a scene.

by HireMattMillen on Jun 18, 2009 2:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good analysis of the situation, Sean

I think you perfectly echoed the sentiments of many Lion’s fans that read that article – me included. I read it yesterday and was floored by his audacity. His ability to wash his hands clean of the lingering mess in Detroit is dispicable and really shows his true character.

Everyone paints Millen to be this jovial, likable character that tells great stories and has an eloquent way with words. Well, I got news for Mr. Millen… he won’t talk his way out of the carnage he left in Detroit in the minds of Lion’s fans. We’ll never forget the legacy he’s leaving on this town… a team forever scarred by a pitiful decade of futility, capped by an 0-16 season.

People like Banks need to come sense the disdain in Michigan before writing this drivel. Never really cared for Banks anyway. And you know what… it is completely irrelevant, IMO, if Millen is or was a good broadcaster. At this point, it’s about taste. And to give Millen a forum to wash his hands of this is apprehensible and irresponsible. Banks should be smart enough to read Millen’s comments and see what he’s trying to do… which is make people feel sorry for him and give him a muligan. HELL NO!

I don’t care what he was before he took the job as GM – great player, great broadcaster… whatever. This is what he is now… a schister and swindler that robbed us of many victories and momentous Sundays. A two-bit hack that took a job that was way over his head and refused to relent until our beloved franchise was destroyed. I could give crap less about what he was before. It’s what he is now that counts…. and now he is a fraud.

Good luck, Matt…. break a leg…. literally.

by DrewsLions on Jun 18, 2009 3:49 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Honestly...

does this guy really believe this? Wasn’t he the guy saying he would never quit, like 2 years ago & then last year he was saying he would’ve fired himself? I still think he has somethin on Ford, idk how he kept his job for so long, even somehow swindling a raise.

by LTownDown on Jun 18, 2009 4:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Ford made money all along, and he didn’t care enough about the product on the field. Last year, he loses money, and there’s a change. Coincidence?

Millen’s self-justifications are pathetic; he’s not being scapegoated for all these other ills, he’s being blamed, and rightfully so, for being a total incompetant in his job. Infuriating to see him make all these excuses, and makes me want to just throw the season’s results from the last 8 years in his face, like a winning team pointing to a scoreboard when a losing team tries to talk trash….

…except as Lions fans, we aren’t a winning team, unless you count the fact that Millen is no longer associated with the franchise….

by ahtrap on Jun 18, 2009 4:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Accepting responsibility

One of the biggest problems I have with Millen is his failure to accept responsibility for his failure. That’s one of the most important traits of leadership in my opinion is to assume final responsibility. No, not for the economy, or the GM plants shutting down, he had nothing to do with that. But for the state of the Detroit Lions his is solely responsible. The only person that held him accountable was Mr. Ford who lacks accountability himself.

by rmatheny on Jun 18, 2009 5:22 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Please Read Comment From Last Post

I’m about to rip my monitor off my desk and throw it out the window…

What a ^(@)ing bastard…

by Nate D. on Jun 18, 2009 7:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Same here, read last post for my comment...

I’m not a violent guy, but put me in a police interrogation room with him…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Txvt6tTKo

by JazzyBBP on Jun 18, 2009 8:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

From the decisions he made.

I really think he was doing lines with Kwame and we all know how much Millen likes to run his mouth, maybe he was the national media’s Deapthroat in Kwamegate and was
rewarded with cushy jobs in the national spotlight. Can you say Conspric,y hum I wonder

by Runnin' Rebel on Jun 18, 2009 8:09 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I don't like Millen

I am now going to try and erase him from my mind….starting now.

2009 = The start of the Lions Golden Age (We hope).

by Hyperion Ecta on Jun 18, 2009 8:20 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

let's play hangman

O.K. guys first off hello everyone been busy but read everyother day or so, pope sean howdy, Rev etc etc. Let me start by saying hind-site is 20-20 As much of a bumm as he was for us; and beleave me I am a hater of the unmentionalbe 1. But lets go back to his drafts on draft day, I guess we start with Joey I was actually very happy we drafted him on draft day that year, I think most of us were in favor of that draft pick, did we want whats his nutz that went to the texans, yeah i think we did but they had the first pick that year, and I thought harrington was the right pick at that time, Lets talk about one of my FFL Busts last year, Roy “short arms” Williams again on draft day I thought that was a great pick and for his sake I hope he becomes what we all thought he would be coming out of college, but he never really became what he should of, and I mean a perennial #1 a top 5 WR in the league, then you have the Charlie “puff puff pass” Rogers, And guys this one really REALLY hut me personally; growing up in Saginaw and watching him from High-school to MSU and then to our lions, I mean hell I would of smoked down daily just to keep the pressure of being just that a hometown hero and all, I truly think that him having his melt down was what killed “Dumb ass’s” tennure here. The way that Charlie came out the first game at home catching those 2 TD’s against Arizona the bar was too high for him to reach ever again. If charlie and the smoke factory would of stayed healthy from go I think those other 2 would of been a hole lot different, and again he was the second best pick coming out of school that year right behind Andre Johnson who is having a Hall of Fame like carreer so far in Texas. The Mike Williams draft pick I still scratch my head on I always thought that they wanted him to turn into a shannon sharpe like TE; I mean damn he put on some pounds fast. I’m just saying guys that it could of turned out differently. I’m glad hes gone and I don’t wish the unmentionable 1 any luck in the future. And thats all behind us now anyways, We all beleave that we have the power of the “SWARTZ” wth us now and things are def. changing for the better, as most of you know I beleave we are playoff bound even when FAVRE go’s the the V_queens. GO LIONS and RESTORE THE ROAR 09 WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

by davis0169 on Jun 18, 2009 8:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I never liked the Mike Williams pick...

Williams came out too early, he was never ready for the NFL, don’t know why we didn’t just skip him.

by ZWC11 on Jun 19, 2009 2:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

millen

i think it’s bad enough that a former gm that literally and figuratively runs his team into the ground gets an on-air gig critiqing other teams and players, but to then turn around and blame the fans is just sickening.

i don’t recall the fans clamoring for first round busts, former coaches, inept coordinators, players past their prime, trading away pro-bowl players only to receive little to nothing in return, and 8 years of offseason acquisitions that we had to cut by training camp the following season. i don’t recall the fans clamoring to receive an offseason spent acquiring all of Tampa Bay’s rejects, complete with coach and coordinators. i don’t recall the fans clamoring to then watch the “finished product” get their brains beaten in every thanksgiving.

what i do recall is the fans clamoring for o-line help, which was largely ignored. i recall the fans clamoring for d-line help, secondary help, linebacker help, all of which was subsequently ignored. i recall the fans asking him to STOP drafting wide receivers in the first round, which was ignored, as well as players the fans would have liked to have seen drafted over the years, also ignored in lieu of drafting “our guys.” i recall watching a gm make horrible personnel, coaching and staffing decisions, and then while the team is getting blown out on the field, the gm is largely unavailable for comment.

seriously, what part of an 0-16 season is the fans fault?

by big smoove on Jun 19, 2009 7:47 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Millen wants sympathy

Millen is trying to create himself as the sympathetic character (creative writing class coming into play here). He wants everyone to jump to his side so he can accept their pity and say, “See, I’m not such a bad guy. Can’t we be friends now?”

And he probably isn’t a bad guy. But he is a terrible NFL president and GM. He doesn’t recognize talent. He didn’t let those who did recognize talent direct his decisions, namely the scouts. And he didn’t understand that a competitive record would generate ticket sales. He thought too much like an owner; as long as we’re making money this year it’s all good. So when it came to the adage “Lead, follow, or get out of the way” Millen was unable to lead, couldn’t follow, and refused to get out of the way. The word for that kind of leadership is ‘incompetent’.

So now he wants everyone to feel sorry for him. He casts his image as ‘I got blamed for everything wrong in Detroit.’ when in fact he only really got blamed for the worst football record in the history of the NFL.

Pity him not. Write letters to SI’s Don Banks explaining your disgust. I plan to.

Wouldn’t it be great if someone like Millen was man enough to stand up and say “Boy, I screwed that up. I was in way over my head there. I had no idea how hard that job is.”

by birdseed on Jun 19, 2009 10:01 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

What?

What, does he think he’s Batman from the Dark Knight or something?

“I’m the scapegoat that these people need”.

What a friggin retard. The moment he took training camp away from SVSU this guy was dead to me. Let him enjoy his millions…just keep him the hell away from our state.

by Tagne13 on Jun 19, 2009 10:34 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

seriously

Don’t you guys have proofreaders? The word is spelled “TRIES.” I don’t care if it doesn’t look right, it is right.
And I am so disappointed in Millen, I was so stoked when we hired him and he just turned us into crap. Personally, I think until old man Ford gives it up we don’t have much of a chance.

by NikDanger on Jun 19, 2009 4:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs