Hall of Shame: Top Ten Worst Lions Ever

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Sidelion
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Hall of Shame: Top Ten Worst Lions Ever

Postby Sidelion » Wed Jul 04, 2012 7:45 am

I know there's a lot to choose from, so stick with me.

Dishonorable Mention(s): Fernando Bryant/Chris Cash/Ramzee Robinson/Keith Smith; oh God, it's quite possibly the most porous secondary ever. While Millen may have been really, really, really bad at picking WRs, his secondary picks were somehow worse. Add that into Marinelli's washed-up Tampa system with a little bit of nepotism and you get the 2008 Lions. I feel sorry for Dre Bly... these guys made him look like the ungodly offspring of Dick LeBeau, Lem Barney, and Dick Lane.

10. Joey Harrington; could have been something great had it not been for the trifecta from Hell: Clay, Millen, and Mariucci.

9. Bobby Carpenter; most timid linebacker in NFL history.

8. Mike Williams; WHEN I SAY "BRICK", YOU SAY "HANDS".

7. Jeff Komlo; his career record of 12-28 TD-INT and third spot on a Yuckaneers' roster speaks for itself.

6. Reggie Rogers; the Lawrence Phillips of defensive tackles. A horrible, worthless waste of a human being, let alone football player.

5. C.C. Brown; worst safety of all-time. Ever. Toast doesn't get burnt as much as this guy.

4. Charles Rogers; numerous comparisons were made between this draft bust and Randy Moss during his college heyday. Turns out the only things the two had in common were their love for Mary Jane- and Moss still managed to set numerous receiving records whilst blunted.

3. Andre Ware; career record of 5-8 TD-INT as a monumental draft bust, also see Rodney Peete below.

2. Rodney Peete; could not manage to find any modicum of success even with Herman Moore and Barry Sanders on the offense. Ranks higher than Andre Ware due to the fact that while Fontes actually benched Ware for good very soon, Peete started over Erik Kramer. His only redeeming quality was the fact that he was injured so often.

1. Dan Orlovsky; 0-16. Is it fair to pin it all on him? Yes. He backed his way out of Detroit's best shot at winning that year besides the fiasco at Tampa, something I doubt George Plimpton could have managed. His name will forever be cursed by Colts and Lions fans everywhere.

I was tempted to put Russ Thomas and Matt Millen tied for number one on this list. Russ Thomas was responsible for the atrocity known as Detroit from 1971-1990 (1980 exempted) and a notorious tightwad, costing Detroit potential dynasty/pseudo-dynasty status in the Sixties and a possible Super Bowl win in 1970; he almost cost Motown the great Barry Sanders, FYI. Matt Millen, on the other hand, is self-explanatory.

Any suggestions? Disagree with any of the picks?
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Hall of Shame: Top Ten Worst Lions Ever

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Re: Hall of Shame: Top Ten Worst Lions Ever

Postby Danchat » Wed Jul 04, 2012 9:26 pm

. Dan Orlovsky; 0-16. Is it fair to pin it all on him? Yes. He backed his way out of Detroit's best shot at winning that year besides the fiasco at Tampa, something I doubt George Plimpton could have managed. His name will forever be cursed by Colts and Lions fans everywhere.

The Lions relied on a mediocre QB to try and win a few games that season. You shouldn't blame it all on Orlovsky, plus, why in the heck would Colts fans curse him? He WON their only 2 games that season!
I'd say Harrington is worse, because he was a much higher draft pick.
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Re: Hall of Shame: Top Ten Worst Lions Ever

Postby Sidelion » Wed Jul 04, 2012 9:56 pm

Orlovsky didn't win anything... statistically, in the game against the Titans that left my blood boiling, he only threw for 82 yards, with an average of 4.82 yards on the day. Donald Brown ran all over Tennesee's D that day. In the way that Pisarcik's career is summed up easily by one atrocious play, so is Orlovsky's. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how to avoid dropping out of your endzone, nor does it to listen to Larry Csonka.

Harrington still outperformed Orlovsky, post-injury Culpepper, and Ware. He was at least capable of winning... sometimes.
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Re: Hall of Shame: Top Ten Worst Lions Ever

Postby Gridiron » Thu Jul 05, 2012 10:58 am

You did inadvertently mention Wayne Fontes who should be high on the list.

However the distinction of worst should go to Darryl Rogers.
One of his more famous quotes was when he once wondered aloud to reporters after a loss,
"What does a coach have to do around here to get fired?"
A whole lot in his case.
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Re: Hall of Shame: Top Ten Worst Lions Ever

Postby Sidelion » Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:59 pm

Gridiron wrote:You did inadvertently mention Wayne Fontes who should be high on the list.

However the distinction of worst should go to Darryl Rogers.
One of his more famous quotes was when he once wondered aloud to reporters after a loss,
"What does a coach have to do around here to get fired?"
A whole lot in his case.

You wanna know the really, really sad part about Wayne Fontes? He has the most playoff appearances and regular season wins of any Detroit coach, even more than Joe Schmidt. If I was looking only at his inexplicably poor decision to keep Peete on the roster, he'd be really high on the below list; however, Barry always thought really highly of him.

-----------------------------------------------------
Coaches and Management Top Ten Worst:

(Dishonorable Mention II: Bo McMillin. Yes, it's always a great idea to change your team's uniform colors from blue to near-opposite maroon simply because you coached at Indiana. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Millen paid "homage" to his Raiders by giving Detroit black alternate uniforms.)

Dishonorable Mention: Wayne Fontes. Had all the talent in the world and never won what was rightfully ours. He'd be in the top ten if some of the greatest Detroit players ever didn't defend him. A truly nice guy that preceded over the best Lions' football since the Fifties, but... it sickens me to think of what should have been.

10. Steve Mariucci. Although Harrington was incompetent in his own right, it didn't help matters that Mariucci threw a West Coast Offense at the kid. Wayne Fontes may have been soft (and his playoff-attending players loved him for it), but Mariucci managed to turn Allen Park into a country club.

9. John Karcis/Bill Edwards. Long, long before 2008... there was 1942. This Dream Team went 0-11, scored 38 points, and was shut out five times. They rank relatively low only because of World War II.

8. Marty Mornhinweg. 5-27, wind apparently matters more in overtime. "Moronweg" aptly sums up the guy.

7. Bobby Ross. Was a major reason that Sanders retired so early. Ross was basically like a mix between Matt Millen and Josh McDaniels- an angry individual who talked a big game, never produced wins, blamed his poor coaching on the players, and couldn't draft worth a flip (ahem, Stockar McDougle).

6. Darryl Rogers. Like Gridiron mentioned, one quote describes this guy. "What does a coach have to do around here to get fired?"

5. Russ Thomas. Stingier than hell, was more of a "salary manager" than a GM. Caused Joe Schmidt to retire, nearly let Charlie Sanders and Barry Sanders walk away.

4. Rod Marinelli. 0-16, nepotist, POUND THE ROCK. His one upside? He's ruining... er, running the Bears' defense.

3. Willie Clay Ford. 'Nuff said.

2. Matt Millen. 'Nuff said.

1. Edwin J. Anderson. This one may be tough to admit, but I was mistaken in thinking Millen was a complete imbecile. This guy's track record is simply astonishing. He let Slick Willie buy the Lions outright. Complete management poison in the ownership syndicate. Let Johnny Robinson, Jim Norton, Houston Antwine, Errol Faison, Tom Goode, John Hadl, Dan Birdwell, Tom Sestak, Tom Janik, Gerry Philbin, Warren Wells, and Fred Biletnikoff walk to the AFL.
"Why do you go away? So that you can come back.
So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors.
And the people there see you differently, too."


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