November 27, 2008
Toothless Lions: Matt Millen's Reign of Error
By Carlos Monarrez(Continued from Part II - Barry and the Golden Era)
What ultimately summed up Matt Millen’s tenure as the worst executive in professional sports history was as caustic as it was comical.
“Matt was a great player, but that has nothing to do with building a team,” an unnamed NFC general manager told the Boston Globe in 2006. “Mickey Mouse was a great comedian, but you don't make him the head of the Disney Company."
Millen won four Super Bowls with three teams over 12 seasons as a linebacker. But that excellent legacy as a player is gone. It has been wiped clean by the 31-84 record and .270 winning percentage he accrued over seven-plus seasons as president and chief executive officer of the Detroit Lions. It will forever be the benchmark — or perhaps that sticky, gummy residue that resides under most benches — for failure among pro football executives.
"He's got the worst record in history from a general manager, and he'll have that record forever,” another AFC GM said. “No one else will ever get to have double-digit losses for six straight years. … The only thing he's accomplished since he got to Detroit is surviving. Don't ask me how he's done it."
Indeed, how has he done it?
It was the burning question for years around Detroit.
For those who knew Millen and understood his relationship with owner William Clay Ford, the answer was not too difficult. Essentially, Millen became a modern-day Scheherazade who wooed his team owner with fantastic tales and the alluring enticement of something better just around the corner.
Of course, Millen never turned that corner or delivered on any promises. He made poor choices with free-agent signings, blew every coaching search and bungled almost every draft, at one point taking a receiver with his top pick three straight years. None of those receivers remain with the team and the most egregious of those picks was Mike Williams, whom Millen selected as the 10th overall choice in 2005 — passing up linebacker Shawne Merriman, who was the 12th pick.
“If you draft a wide receiver with your first pick back-to-back-to-back, you have no idea how to build a team,” said another unnamed AFC GM.
And yet, it was all so understandable, if only because there was precedent with Russ Thomas serving as GM far past his effectiveness from 1967-89, and because, well, Millen was so darn likable. That personable nature helped give him an easy foray into television as an analyst for CBS and Fox.
Ford apparently must have thought football-savvy angels were whispering in his ear when Millen broke down plays on TV. Ford struck a father-son relationship with Millen, hired him in 2001 and watched as Millen burned the franchise to the ground with well-intentioned inexperience.
Ford not only tolerated Millen’s mismanagement, but he even applauded it like an indulgent parent blind to his child’s faults. Ford presented a whopping five-year extension to Millen after he turned in a 16-48 record following his fourth season.
Millen’s presence became a public-relations disaster. A radio station organized a “Millen Man March” as a form of protest. There was a fan walkout at halftime of one game. And the second-most popular chant around Detroit sports arenas behind “Let’s go, Red Wings!” became “Fi-yer Mil-len!”
Fans finally got what they wanted when Ford’s son, Bill Jr., stepped in. The Ford Motor Co. executive chairman and the Lions’ vice chairman shamed his father into firing Millen three games into this season when he said publicly he would have fired Millen long ago if he had the authority. Two days later, Millen was gone.
But the stench of failure remains and has grown even more putrid. Rod Marinelli, who was given his first head coaching job at any level when Millen hired him in 2006, is the final symbol of Millen’s legacy. The Lions enter their annual Thanksgiving Day game on the kind of run that would shock even a runaway train. They are on a franchise-worst 1-18 streak, Marinelli has a 10-33 record — and still talking about pad level. A loss today would equal the 0-12 start to the Lions’ 2001 season.
Of course, this season is over for the Lions. All that remains is the postmortem. The end of the only NFL head coaching job Marinelli will ever have is drawing to a close. Martin Mayhew has attempted two big plays — a home run with Roy Williams’ trade to Dallas and a foul tip with the signing of Daunte Culpepper — in his bid to win the GM position. There is pie-in-the-sky talk of Bill Cowher becoming the next coach and Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli becoming the next president.
Edsel Ford took his 9-year-old son, William Clay, to see a football team play its inaugural season 74 years ago on the dusty field of the University of Detroit Stadium. William Clay Ford is 83 years old now and he is witnessing the worst chapter in that team’s history. He has a chance to make what could be his last meaningful decision about the Lions. He has a chance to remake his legacy. He only needs to realize that he is running out of time.
