...if he stays there will be trouble!A tough question was asked of me this weekend after another disappointing performance by the Lions - Do you think they should fire Marinelli now? I answered simply yes and no.
The YES...
Marinelli's coaching philosophy sounds great...fundamentals, hard work, blah blah blah blah blah. If you have listened to any one of his press conferences, you have heard him say it over and over. However, somewhere along the line his "fundamentals and hard work" have failed to work. 
The Lions can barely tackle! And I don't know about you, but I think making a tackle is pretty fundamental! Every week Marinelli takes responsibility and valiantly proclaims, "It's on me, it's on me". Yes, Rod, it IS on you. Your ideas sound great, but the bottom line is they are not working. The sign of a great coach is one who can adapt to his players and figure out what makes them tick, what makes those players into great players, what makes the individual players play as a team. Unfortunately, rather than adapting and changing his style, Marinelli insists on beating a dead horse and sticking to his "fundamentals and hard work". He says they look great in practice...well no shit - in practice you're playing against the Lions! Every team looks good playing against the Lions!
The Lions can barely tackle! And I don't know about you, but I think making a tackle is pretty fundamental! Every week Marinelli takes responsibility and valiantly proclaims, "It's on me, it's on me". Yes, Rod, it IS on you. Your ideas sound great, but the bottom line is they are not working. The sign of a great coach is one who can adapt to his players and figure out what makes them tick, what makes those players into great players, what makes the individual players play as a team. Unfortunately, rather than adapting and changing his style, Marinelli insists on beating a dead horse and sticking to his "fundamentals and hard work". He says they look great in practice...well no shit - in practice you're playing against the Lions! Every team looks good playing against the Lions! Let's take a look at this Sunday's game. In a way, the Lions are so very close to being a decent team, but small breakdowns in "fundamentals" cause them to be devastatingly terrible. There were two major plays that had the Lions executed their "fundamentals", the whole game could have changed and dare I say it, the Lions may have actually won the game. First, Campbell's TD pass to Moss. The Lions blitzed and Robertson was given a one on one chance to sack Campbell. Instead of staying on his feet and focusing on making the tackle, he leaves his feet, misses and Campbell only had to simply side step him and then threw to Moss for a TD - 7 points that shouldn't have happened. Second, the punt return to the house by Moss. There were at least 3 guys that had a one on one matchup with Moss during that return. MAKE A FREAKIN' TACKLE!!! Grab his legs, grab his ankle...heck, just trip him up so someone else can have a shot at tackling him! Another 7 points that shouldn't have happened. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzIyzIo1-DI&fmt=18 The Lions had the lead and looked pretty good. But then something happened and they crumbled. Something needs to change.
I have to confess something...I was a big Marinelli supporter. I was excited about his back to basics approach. Basically, I was a sucker and thought it would actually work for my beloved Detroit Lions. But as a Lions fan, one tends to grasp at any little glimmer of hope that possibly points to a successful season....fundamentals and hard work sure sounded good to me! Unfortunately the fundamentals and hard work are not showing up on Sunday. So yes, we need a new coach. We need someone to come in and turn this team upside down. But, I don't think it should be done until the end of the season.
The NO...
If they did fire Marinelli right now, who would step up and take the head coach position? Jim Colletto? Joe Barry, the son-in-law? Kippy Brown? We don't have someone like Singletary who
will step up and shake up this team. Singletary is demanding champions out of his players. He kicked a player out of the game for getting a personal foul. In his press conference, he went on a rampage about wanting winners on his team. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB5-yJM3vJc&feature=related Instead we get a calm, "It's on me". Get mad Marinelli, show some emotion, show us that you really want to win! Personally, I don't think Colletto, Barry or Brown would be able to step up and do what Singletary is doing with the 49ers. Barry would probably leave if Marinelli got fired anyways. However, one has to ask, could it possibly get any worse with Marinelli gone? At this point, they really don't have anything to lose. The morale of this team is so low...they are possibly more depressed than the fans. Take for example Kevin Smith - a bright, talented rookie runningback. Prior to the start of the season, he was fired up and talking about getting this team to the Super Bowl in three years. After last weeks game, he sounded like he had a death in the family. You could tell by the tone in his voice and his words that he was beaten down mentally, and at a loss for what to do about this team. Good job Lions...it only took 6 weeks to totally demoralize a talented kid.
will step up and shake up this team. Singletary is demanding champions out of his players. He kicked a player out of the game for getting a personal foul. In his press conference, he went on a rampage about wanting winners on his team. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB5-yJM3vJc&feature=related Instead we get a calm, "It's on me". Get mad Marinelli, show some emotion, show us that you really want to win! Personally, I don't think Colletto, Barry or Brown would be able to step up and do what Singletary is doing with the 49ers. Barry would probably leave if Marinelli got fired anyways. However, one has to ask, could it possibly get any worse with Marinelli gone? At this point, they really don't have anything to lose. The morale of this team is so low...they are possibly more depressed than the fans. Take for example Kevin Smith - a bright, talented rookie runningback. Prior to the start of the season, he was fired up and talking about getting this team to the Super Bowl in three years. After last weeks game, he sounded like he had a death in the family. You could tell by the tone in his voice and his words that he was beaten down mentally, and at a loss for what to do about this team. Good job Lions...it only took 6 weeks to totally demoralize a talented kid. Bottom Line...Marinelli needs to go, but not right now. If he leaves now, the team won't get any better under Colletto, Barry or Brown. Marinelli definitely needs to change his style though if he wants any possible chance to keep his job at the end of the year.
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