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- Shortly after Jim Schwartz was fired on Monday, a few tweets helped make it clear why a change was needed.
Lions source on Schwartz: "He lost all control of the team."
— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) December 30, 2013Also, some #Lions asst coaches felt that players were not practicing as hard in recent weeks, less attention to detail, source said.
— Adam Caplan (@caplannfl) December 30, 2013Lions players frustrated at Schwartz's unwillingness to hold everyone to same standard
— Matt Shepard (@ShepMatt) December 30, 2013
- Reports of tension between Schwartz and Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew continued after Monday's firing.
Mayhew, for what it's worth, strongly denied a report that suggested he was barely even speaking to Schwartz by the end of the season, and he also strongly denied a report that suggested he wanted to fire Schwartz after last season.Matin Mayhew and Jim Schwartz didn't get along. Some Lions coaches say it was ugly at times.
— Pete Prisco (@PriscoCBS) December 30, 2013
- For those wondering, the Lions officially announced Schwartz's firing at 12:14 p.m. ET on Monday, according to Tom Leyden.
- Why did the Lions decide to fire Jim Schwartz? Lions president Tom Lewand explained the decision:
Tom Lewand: "We have come some distance since (0-16) but the simple fact is we have fallen short of the expectations of our ownership."
— Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) December 30, 2013Lions president Tom Lewand: "To put it simply, we didn't win enough football games...The search has already begun for the next head coach."
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) December 30, 2013Lewand on the Fords' reasoning: "They very strongly want to bring a consistently winning football team to the city of Detroit."
— Josh Katzenstein (@jkatzenstein) December 30, 2013
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Mayhew admitted during his Monday press conference that the front office could have done a better job in certain areas from a personnel standpoint, especially with surrounding Matthew Stafford with talent. However, Mayhew felt the Lions were already getting to a point where there was enough talent in place for them to start contending.
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Stafford thinks offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, who was let go as well on Monday, will be a "hot commodity" in coaching circles.
- Yahoo! Sports' Dan Wetzel put together a column on why the Lions have the best head coach opening the NFL, and several analysts on NFL.com echoed his thoughts.
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Jason La Canfora believes Schwartz will "get consideration" for the Cleveland Browns' head coaching job.
