(11-23-2021, 12:27 PM)MoJagFan Wrote: Is there anyone in the Jaguars organization that likes the fans?
Is there anyone in the Jaguars organization that likes the game of football?

What is this crap? Does anyone have any experience as a Browns, Lions or Bengals fan that can lend any light to how a franchise can just suck this bad? Do they really believe that this is working and is a good path forward?

They are killing me smalls.

I've been a Lions fan since 1970.  In these 52 seasons,  the Lions made the playoffs 12 times, won 3 Division Titles, and won only one playoff game.  This is the only NFL franchise that hasn't been to a Super Bowl,  that has played in each of the 56 seasons of the Super Bowl era.  If the expanded playoff system that came right after the then existing playoff system was in place each season, the Lions would have made the playoffs 4 or 5 more times.  That's still less than 33% of the time!  

The only common denominator each of the 52 seasons is someone in the Ford Family has owned the Lions.   Yet, even from 1970 to 2013, the seasons William Clay Ford Sr owned the team ( he passed away in March, 2014 ) , the Lions were run differently in various eras.  The penny pinching ways of GM Russ Thomas and the willingness to spend money ways of inexperienced GM Matt Millen both were highly unsuccessful.  The Millen era began with him firing interim HC Gary Moeller after a 9-7 season non playoff season.  That led to the worst W-L results in a 9 season period ( including the first season after the Millen era ) in NFL history, with the possible exception of the NFL's first decade.  


Two of the other periods were much more successful but not close to what I believe they should have been. 

1.  The in-between period 1988 to 2000 when Chuck Schmidt was GM most of the time and 10 of the 13 seasons Barry Sanders' playing career took place.  The Lions made the playoffs 6 times in the 1990s,  with the final time. (1999 season ) the first season of Barry's retirement. Yet, Barry's early retirement was in large part because of his perception of the Lions organization.  

2. The period that either Martin Mayhew was GM and / or Jim Caldwell was the HC . The Lions made the playoffs 3 times, with no playoff wins.  A horrible officiating call change in the middle of the 4tb QTR  likely cost the Lions a road playoff win at Dallas in the 2014 season.  But even if the Lions would have won that game, it would have been a difficult task to beat the eventual NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks on the road 6 days later.  I believe though the 2014 team would have been a Super Bowl caliber team if not for key injuries.  

The decision by GM Bob Quinn to fire Jim Caldwell after the 2017 season in which the Lions finished 9-7 and would have been the 7th Seed under the current playoff format was one I strongly disagreed with.  Caldwell had a 36-27 record and 2 playoff seasons in his 4 seasons as Lions HC.    I thought Matt Patricia was a good replacement under the circumstance of Caldwell being fired.  But it turned out to be a disaster, which led to the current regime which planned a rebuild that was absolutely needed.  

Granted, the Lions have been on the wrong end of numerous bad officiating calls this century that very likely cost the team as many games as any team has experienced in the same time frame.  With season ending derailing key injuries being the norm, much more than the.exception.   The Lions have also been on the wrong end of 3 of the longest FGs in NFL history by the opposition.  Including, Justin Tucker's new NFL Record Game Winning 66 yard FG in week # 3 this season.  Yet, even with all of this factoring in,  it's inexcusable for the Lions to have so little playoff success in the Super Bowl era,  compared every other NFL  team. 

The Lions were once a great NFL Franchise, with 4 NFL Championships ( 1935, 1952, 1953, and 1957 ).  But no Professional Sports franchise in the USA or Canada has had less success from 1958 to the present than the Lions....with the possible exception of the Sacramento Kings.  The latter moved several times ( Rochester, NY. ( Royals )  to Cincinnati to Kansas City / Omaha ( Kings ) to Sacramento.  Very few Pro Sports franchises would have survived in one market with the very low level of success as the Detroit Lions have had from 1958 to the present.  The fan support for the Lions is extraordinary and by far the franchise's # 1 asset!

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