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The Detroit Lions are now under new ownership with Martha Firestone Ford stepping down as primary owner and her daughter, Sheila Ford Hamp, taking over the responsibilities. When asked about her immediate plans as the new Lions owner, Sheila Ford explained that she wants to start learning more about the organization before making any big changes.
Though the change in ownership is a big move, Sheila Ford has already been involved in much of the decision-making, including the hiring of Bob Quinn and the decision to keep “Quinntricia” around after last year. This move has seemingly been in the making for a while, so this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.
Today’s Question of the Day is:
If you could make one change as the Detroit Lions owner, what would it be?
My answer: I don’t know if there really is a simple answer to a question like this. I know a popular answer to some would be to immediately get rid of Bob Quinn and/or Matt Patricia, but you have to consider that they just spent an entire offseason adding players to fit their scheme, and dumping them now would be a disaster.
Rod Wood, whether you love him or hate him, has made efforts to improving the fan experience at Ford Field and I’d say he’s done a pretty good job with it, so I wouldn’t have much to improve there.
The biggest move or change I’d like to make is to potentially get ahead of the curve and looking into hiring a new consultant, especially if the plan is to get rid of Quinn and Patricia after this year. Back in 2014, the Lions hired Ernie Accorsi, who helped the Lions with hiring Quinn as general manager. Accorsi also helped the Bears with hiring Ryan Pace after Phil Emery was fired and was a big influence on pushing John Fox as head coach on the franchise. If you look at Accorsi’s track record as a consultant, it leaves much to be desired.
If I had to pick one reason why the Lions haven’t been successful, I think Sheila Ford actually hit the nail on the head with this one. It comes down to them not having the right people in place. Whether it’s general manager or head coach or maybe even primary owner, the Lions just haven’t had the right people in place, and finding a new consultant with a proven track record could be what brings them over the hump once and for all.